The Suite 101
Hitch-hiking Survey

If you have ever hitch-hiked, please complete this survey form and send it to:

Bernd Wechner 
6 Montagu Street
Mount Stuart 7000
Australia
Fax: +1-509-463-1395
Email: bernd(at)wechner.info

Or, fill the form in on-line at:

http://bernd.wechner.info/Hitchhiking/Suite101/Survey

Include your name and address if you like the idea of credit, thanks, or joining an international hitchers club or mailing list. Remain anonymous if you prefer. 

Larry and Don Evans used a survey almost identical to this one in 1980 in the United States. They got about 1,000 responses after distributing 10,000 questionnaires and compiled what is still the best guidebook to hitch-hiking in America that exists - Hey Now, Hitchhikers!

Now, fill in this form, share some experiences, and help us create a broader more current guide! Let's do better.

About You		
		
1.	Year of birth:	
2.	Nationality:	
3.	Where you live:	

4.	Your sex:	 male	 female

5.	Currently 	a student?	 yes	 no
	a university graduate?	 yes	 no
	Field(s) of study: 

6.	Job/profession:  	

Your Hitch-hiking		
		
7.	Year when you first hitch-hiked:	
8.	Year(s) when you hitch-hiked most: 
Were you a student then?	 yes	 no	 partly

9.	How many times have you hitched more than a few kilometres?	 1-10 	 10-25 	 25-50 
	 50-100 	 100-500	 500+

10.	Where have you done most of your hitchhiking and how would you rate local attitudes towards hitchhiking there?

 excellent	 good	 fair	 poor	 bad

11.	You ordinarily hitch-hike: 
 locally 	 alone
 nationally 	 with a male friend
 internationally 	 with a female friend
 globally	 with 2 or more others

12.	You hitch-hike with children? 	with pets?
 yes 	 yes
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 no	 no

13.	At a guess, how long is:
	your average wait?	your average ride?
 less than 15 minutes 	 less than 15 minutes
 15 to 30 minutes 	 15 to 30 minutes
 30 minutes to 1 hour 	 30 minutes to 1 hour
 1 to 2 hours 	 1 to 2 hours
 over 2 hours	 over 2 hours

14.	Your longest hitch-hike in one trip was:
 100 km or less 	 1 day
 100-500 km 	 2-5 days
 500-1,000 km	 5-10 days
 1,000-2,000 km 	 1 month
 over 2,000 km	 longer

15.	Longest Wait(s)	Where	When

		 
		 
16.	Do you, use a sign?	ask drivers personally?
 always 		 always
 often 	 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 never	 never

17.	Do you contact rides using:
	ride-share services?	a CB radio?
 always 	 always
 often 	 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 never	 never

18.	Hitch-hiking at night -
	you think:	you do it:
 cool, I love it	 always
 don't care	 often
 OK under lights 	 sometimes
 if I must, prefer not to	 seldom
 I hate it.	 never

19.	Do you ever, share expenses?	share driving?
 always	 always
 often 	 often
 sometimes	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 never	 never

20.	How often do you ride over five hours,
	in cars?	in trucks?
 often 	 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 never	 never

21.	Do you ever turn down rides? 
 often	 seldom 
 sometimes 	 never
Why? 

22.	Do you think attitudes towards hitch-hiking are?
	 getting better 	 getting worse 	 no change

Drivers		
		
23.	What percentage of the drivers do you 
	feel uneasy with?	feel very comfortable with?
 less than 10% 	 less than 10%
 10-25% 	 10-25%
 25-50% 	 25-50%
 50-75% 	 50-75%
 75-90%	 75-90%
 more than 90%	 more than 90%

24.	How many people are usually in the vehicle that picks you up?  one 	 two 	 three 	 four+

25.	Have the drivers ever hitch-hiked themselves? 
 always 	 often 	 sometimes 
 seldom 	 never

26.	Do the people who pick you up,
	share food?	invite you home?
 always 	 always
 often 	 often
 sometimes	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 never	 never

27.	How often do truck drivers: 
	stop for you,	give you a ride, if already
	if moving?	stopped and you ask?
 always		 always
 often 		 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 seldom	 seldom
 never	 never

Other Vehicles		
		
28.	Have you ever hitch-hiked on
	a boat/ship?	an aeroplane?	a motorcycle?
 often	 often	 often
 sometimes	 sometimes	 sometimes
 seldom	 seldom	 seldom
 once	 once	 once
 never	 never	 never

29.	Have you ever hopped freight trains?	
	 often	 sometimes	 seldom	 once	 never
Any good rail yards/bad rail yards? 

Trouble		
		
30.	Have you ever lost something because
	you left it in the car?	you were robbed?
 often 	 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 once 	 once
 never 	 never

31.	Physically, have you ever been
	threatened?	assaulted?
 often 	 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom
 once 	 once
 never	 never

32.	Sexually, have you ever been
	invited?	molested? 	assaulted?
 often 	 often	 often
 sometimes 	 sometimes	 sometimes
 seldom 	 seldom	 seldom
 once 	 once	 once
 never	 never	 never

33.	Have you ever been (by the police):
 asked to move?	 warned?	 fined?
 searched?	 arrested?	 jailed?	
When, where, why?

Tips and Things		
		
34.	Why do you hitch-hike? 

35.	What is your worst problem when you hitch? How do you avoid it?

 

36.	List a couple of routes that you feel are truly impossible to hitch, and a few that you have found easy or enjoyable.

Further Comments?		

Anything Else?		
		
If there's anything else, interesting stories, ideas, answers that didn't fit, or contact details, feel free to add another sheet or scrap of paper and share them. We'd love to hear them. Especially interesting stories!