Being asked for for a ride by a stanger

[weeblewobble]

The city I used to live in had a woman who would jump into cars at stoplights and instruct the driver where to take her.  It happened to a friend of mine and he actually drove her because she wouldn't get out of the car!  Personally, I would have refused and not moved until she did get out, despite any line up piling up behind me when I didn't go through the light.  If I didn't have my phone handy, hopefully someone behind would have called the police and they could have sorted it out.

I can't believe all the stories of people jumping into cars to get rides like this!  I would have told them to get out and threatened to call the police!  Or, I would have given them a ride... to the police station 

This happened to my Aunt about 15 years ago. There was a bus stop situated right beside a junction with traffic lights. The woman would wait close to the bus stop and when the cars stopped at a red light she would step out, open the passenger door and say "Thanks for the lift, you can just drop me off at XYZ location!". Usually they'd be too astonished to argue and drive on out the 10 or so miles to the place she was going to...

We had a homeless man in town who would pull this at bus stops and busy intersections.  He's the reason I drive with my doors locked. 

[nutraxfornerves]

Back in the Old Days, when car door locks were mechanical, not electronic, a firefighter I met socially advised me to keep the doors unlocked, unless in a dodgy neighborhood.

He explained that in an accident, the locks often jammed. If the door was locked, it could not be unlocked. It would take the jaws of life to get it open, and the extra minutes that would take could be critical to a victim. The firefighter had actually been at a couple of accidents where this happened.

[crocodile]

I am a retired coroner and have seen things that make me quite cautious.  I would never, ever allow a strange person inside my car.  If she or he needed me to call the police or an tow truck or whatever, I would be more than happy to do that, but I would stay on the side of safety on this one.

[PastryGoddess]

My grandma beat into my head that if I gave a ride to a stranger I would be in the papers as the girl who was abducted and r*ped and murdered.  As I got older and started hiking, I started section hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Part of the trail ethos is giving rides to through hikers to the nearest town. The first time I gave ride to a hiker I was nervous and stressed out the entire time.  Even though I had passed them on the trail, and chatted for a bit, I still had visions of murder and mayhem on my mind.

I now only give rides if I have someone else in my car. I figure its much harder to hide two bodies than one

[Twik]

Now, from the other side of things:

My mother always told the story about a couple of her friends who, in their early 20's, did a lot of hitchhiking (they were a male/female couple). One day they got picked up by a couple of nice gentlemen, in a nice new car.

Which they were using as a getaway car from a bank robbery.

Apparently, they were hoping that the police were looking for a car with 2 people, not 4, but the police were not fooled, and the couple had a terrifying hour's ride at ridiculous speed, as the crooks tried to outrun the cops. Finally, they were let off somewhere, but they never hitchhiked again.

[Minmom3]

One of my great uncles, who died back in 1955, used to drive through Harlem on his way to and from work.  He learned to keep his doors locked because somebody would smear a dirty rag across his windshield, and then yank open the door and demand to be paid for cleaning the window.  They would threaten him if he refused.  He couldn't do much about the 'window cleaning', but locking all the doors meant nobody got his doors opened!  The need to be careful in certain neighborhoods goes back much further than that, I'm sure.

[Ms_Cellany]

When my father was a kid in the '30s, his uncle (a doctor) was shot to death in the hospital by a deranged patient.

One day when he was hitchhiking - a normal way to get around town in those days - it turned out that the driver was the psychiatrist who had cleared the patient as safe. Dad said it was a very silent and awkward drive after they each figured out who the other wase.