4 ms·

Truck drivers insurers don't allow them to take hitchhikers (or anyone, really) nowadays.

by orwin 3y ago

OfSanguineFire 3y ago
Depends where. In the USA (and perhaps Canada) this has long been a concern -- dating at least back to Kerouac's time -- and a hitchhiker there relies e.g. on drivers who are owner-operators. In the rest of the world, including the EU, hitchhikers still easily move via trucks.
- orwin 3y ago
  Riding as passenger in a French long haul truck should be almost impossible. Although most trucks accross France aren't immatriculated in France, so it might still be possible.
  - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
    My direct experience is a few years old now, because I moved on to slightly more bourgeois means of travel (but I remain active in travel communities where the younger, less bourgeois members hitchhike), but I don't remember seeing many French trucks whenever I was jumping from one motorway service station to another. The trucking industry in Europe very quickly moved eastward, and already Polish drivers were the stereotypical long-distance lift across Western Europe, with Hungarians and (after 2006) Romanians also being common.
lotsofpulp 3y ago
The insurer simply does not cover costs for certain events or entities. For example, if the truck driver picked someone up, got into an accident, then the passenger’s injuries would not be covered by the insurance. In which case, the passenger might sue the driver, and the driver might not want that, so the driver chooses to not pick up hitchhikers. One might say this is a consequence of not having taxpayer funded healthcare for everyone, since exorbitant healthcare costs + needing to find someone to milk mean everyone ends up looking out for their own ass. Another scenario is the passenger steals the truck or its contents , in which case the insurer would say not our problem. You were covered for random acts of weather/other drivers/machine failure/thieves breaking and entering. But not if you willingly let them into the truck. Seems like a reasonable caveat.

Truck drivers insurers don't allow them to take hitchhikers (or anyone, really) nowadays.

by orwin 3y ago

Truck drivers insurers don't allow them to take hitchhikers (or anyone, really) nowadays.

Depends where. In the USA (and perhaps Canada) this has long been a concern -- dating at least back to Kerouac's time -- and a hitchhiker there relies e.g. on drivers who are owner-operators. In the rest of the world, including the EU, hitchhikers still easily move via trucks.

orwin 3y ago
Riding as passenger in a French long haul truck should be almost impossible. Although most trucks accross France aren't immatriculated in France, so it might still be possible.
- OfSanguineFire 3y ago
  My direct experience is a few years old now, because I moved on to slightly more bourgeois means of travel (but I remain active in travel communities where the younger, less bourgeois members hitchhike), but I don't remember seeing many French trucks whenever I was jumping from one motorway service station to another. The trucking industry in Europe very quickly moved eastward, and already Polish drivers were the stereotypical long-distance lift across Western Europe, with Hungarians and (after 2006) Romanians also being common.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

The insurer simply does not cover costs for certain events or entities. For example, if the truck driver picked someone up, got into an accident, then the passenger’s injuries would not be covered by the insurance. In which case, the passenger might sue the driver, and the driver might not want that, so the driver chooses to not pick up hitchhikers. One might say this is a consequence of not having taxpayer funded healthcare for everyone, since exorbitant healthcare costs + needing to find someone to milk mean everyone ends up looking out for their own ass. Another scenario is the passenger steals the truck or its contents , in which case the insurer would say not our problem. You were covered for random acts of weather/other drivers/machine failure/thieves breaking and entering. But not if you willingly let them into the truck. Seems like a reasonable caveat.