Hitchhiking in the Netherlands

When it comes to tolerance and care about minorities, our Dutch friends are leading.
In particular, the idea of the “Liftershalte” impresses me. These official spots for hitchhikers, also called “Liftersplaats”, exist in most university cities. It is a bay with a sign that draws the driver’s attention to the hitchhikers, so cars can easily stop. The Dutchmen like to describe their Liftershalte as a kind of bus stop without a bus. For me it’s much more a great possibility to hitchhike without danger to me or other road users. According to Dutch hitchhikers, the chances to get a lift are much higher at the Liftersplaats compared to any other place because the drivers are prepared for the hitchhikers well in advance and have much less worries through the involvement of the state.
I don’t want to overtax anybody but I think this practice is also a great idea for other countries. Maybe we don’t need extra signs but a couple of hitching bays more at motorway slip roads would be necessary in most Middle European countries.

Woman hitching at a Liftershalte

This picture is based on the picture Girl-hitchhiking-at-liftershalte-in-Den-Haag from the free media database Commons and is under the GNU Free Documentation License.