0
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
A thumb or hand gesture will work fine for hitchhiking (depending on the region). But in some cases, the use of a sign displaying your destination or general direction will increase your odds.
What about a sign just saying '''"PLEASE".'''It worked for me. (from Max, www.couchsurfing.com user:mxnnx.) read on.
When you're hitchhiking on a road that goes to plenty of destinations: The driver will be more likely to stop if he knows that you're going the same way he does.
[[Image:Img_l_1306483.jpg|thumb|180px|right|[[User:MayaCova|MayaCova]] using was using a white board with considerable success.]]
If you have a chance to plan a long hitchhiking trip in advance, some find using an erasable white board as a sign to be very useful for making big, clear and reusable signs.
Remember the sign has to be read from a distance. At 100km/hr, a vehicle is covering approx 30 metres/second. The average reaction time when driving is 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, so 45 to 75 metres has gone before they start to stop. If you want them to stop, then you not only have to place yourself in the rignt location so they can see that you are a traveller and not just cagging a lift (this is what the sign does), you also have to have a sign that is readable. The more space between each letter the better to be read from a distance. (This is called Kernel, eg see road signs specifications.)
If space dosen´t permit a long city name shorten it to something everyone will understand. For example [[Amsterdam]] could be A'DAM and [[Hamburg]] could be HH.
