In their Freakonomics podcast titled, “Where Have All the Hitchhikers Gone?” Stephen J. Dubner and Stephen D. Levitt discuss the most probable reasons for why hitchhiking has dramatically declined almost to the point of extinction in recent years and how it has affected modern society through an economic viewpoint. The two main motives discussed for why the demand of hitchhiking has plummeted since the early-80’s are that Americans began to fear hitchhiking because they saw it as dangerous and because transportation became cheaper and more readily available. During the 60’s and 70’s hitchhiking was considered a matching market, in other words, there were always some people who wanted to hitch a ride and there were always people willing to
give them a ride without any extra incentives, but, unfortunately by the end of the 70’s this was beginning to change. Stephen Dubner and James Zinoman, NYT critic and author of Shock Value, agree that this was largely due to a shift in social opinion on the subject as a result of PSA campaigns against picking up hitchhikers and media coverage of hitcher abductions, as there is no real statistical evidence to support this assumption. Zinoman extends this point by stating that people were not afraid of picking up hitchhikers but rather picking up an unstable person who may want to do harm to them, a rational fear that was being irrationally attributed to hitchhikers as a whole. Dubner points out that decisions in life are all about trade-offs and in this case drivers began to see the risks of giving somebody a ride to be too large to participate in the hitchhiking system, even if it was an extremely valuable piece of our society and economy. The second reason why hitchhiking has mostly come to end has almost nothing to do with hitchhiking itself, but instead with the availability of cars on the market. Alan Pisarski, a former employee of the U.S. Department of Transportation and author of Commuting in America, points out that since the beginning of the 1970’s the amount of households with more than one car has doubled and the percentage of people with driver’s licenses has greatly increased as well. Luckily, due to innovations in technology this increase in demand for cars has been meet with an even greater increase in the supply of cars in the market since we can now produce cars quicker and keep them running longer. This allows for people with lower incomes the opportunity to purchase a dependable secondhand car at a much lower price compared to 40 years ago. Coupling this with quicker transportation on highways and cheaper airfares makes traveling long distances much more economically feasible for everyone, in turn making hitchhiking even less appealing. It is clear that hitchhiking definitely has its faults, but that is not to say that it does not serve a purpose. In the podcast, Dubner states that 80% of the seats of the average car go unused, this, of course, is a huge waste of resources that if used more efficiently could make a substantial impact on the congestion of roads in major metropolises. One solution to this waste of resources that has already been adopted by some cities is a more formal version of hitchhiking, called slugging, which the Freakonomics crew found to work pretty well. While this isn’t practical everywhere, it is a step in the right direction as it is not rational to allow improbable fears affect how we behave and allocate our resources. Although it may seem like hitchers are a dying breed, Pisarski and James believe that with the help of modern technology it could and should make a comeback because a trusting society is a better society.
Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).
We take them for granted when driving miles to the closest mall. We are unconscious of their usefulness when traveling to see a distant relative by car. We can't take a moment to stop and admire their beauty and usefulness; the architectural wonders that are highways and their interchanges; which have such a rich history embedded in the American suburbia of today. Let's go back to the early 1900's, when the automobile was starting to become a dominate part of the American life (Morton, 2014). Around this time; a shift began to occur towards private transportation over public by influencing policies in their favor (Nicolaides and Wiese, 2006). One of these polices was created by the Federal Aid Highway of 1925; the United States Highway System which basically expanded the highways across the United States connecting one another, creating new opportunities for growth in many areas (Weingroff, 1996). This had many effects on different factors of the American way of life; specifically suburbia (Morton, 2014). After the war, the private home that was a luxury a few years prior, was now becoming affordable for many thanks to low interest rates and flexible payments through the National Housing Act of 1934, created by the Federal Housing Administration (Fishman, 1987). Perfect example of a policy acting towards private over public was the Los Angles Master Plan of 1941, which pushed the direction of private automobiles and singles households: there being 1.16 million cars (2.4 people per car) and having 31 percent of the city land dedicated for single family homes, this was really solidifying the post suburbia lifestyle (Fishman, 1987). In Los Angeles alone around this time, 900 square miles were transformed to tract development homes ...
“The Hitchhiker,” by Lucille Fletcher, narrates the unusual happenings Ronald Adams, the protagonist, experiences, while driving along the deserted and densely populated roads of the United States. Adams continually observes a hitchhiker, whom he first saw, having almost hit him, on the Brooklyn Bridge, and apprehends traveling on the highways, for fear this phantasmal man shall reappear. Struggling to grasp reality once receiving news of his mother’s breakdown after the death of her son, Ronald Adams, he reverts his attention to the hitchhiker, the realization of never having been who he thought he was, and being alone without protection from the traveler, both wrench his mind in two. Lucille Fletcher uses suspense to build the plot of, “The
Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler surfaced as the “Big Three” auto companies heading into the 1920’s. The invention of the automobile revolutionized transportation; by the 1920’s cars made places easier to access to people. Many of the traditionalists did approve of the automobiles, but some of them just favored the old way of walking places. The traditionalists were fearful of car accidents with the upbringing of the automobile. During the 1920’s a driver’s license was not needed in most states, and there weren’t really any “rules of the road” quite yet. No signs, signals, or traffic guards, and the roads were not ready for automobiles or pedestrians yet. Some traditionalists were not for these life risking ways of automobiles, but they were accepted among most for an increase in transportation and their easy access to even those who were not rich. The modernists at this time were known to want the exciting new changes and risks, so they were all for the automobiles. This rebellious group knew the advancement of technology with automobiles meant transportation to explore, and not be stuck in the same places within walking distance. The 1920’s
The reaction and effectiveness of this poster might have been different in today’s society because Americans take full advantage of carpooling. The creation of Uber and Lyft are methods Americans use to carpool. This poster marked the beginning of a new tradition in American culture. Carpooling since 1945 has been a method to save gas and money. Overall during my analysis, I was able to put myself in the mindset of an American citizen during this time period. In today’s society, this poster would be effective to Americans including myself because we actually take advantage of carpooling in our daily
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, space is a pretty messed up place. Visiting planets like Magrathea, the richest planet of all time; nearly being killed by the Vogons, and finding the answer to the universe are all some of the crazy adventures the group goes on. Adams really thinks outside of the box for this book, it is filled with chaos and lunacy, but also some romance. It is evident in this novel that the theme is love, which can be shown through the ridiculous adventures Arthur and Trillian journey on.
The drama in the story “The Hitchhiker” has a lot of different technical elements, such as sound effects and music. These elements affect the story because they bring the life to what he is saying. It’s giving us a way to imagine what he is doing and where he is going. When the music starts playing, it's foreshadowing. The music usually means that Ronald is about to see the hitchhiker on the side of the road and it is giving us a hint of how long it will be until he sees him. The music also gives us an idea of what he is thinking. The music starts getting faster when something good is about to happen. The music then gets slower when the story starts to calm down and isn’t very exciting. An example of when the music is slower is when Ronald
It’s fair to say that life on the road is something most people do not desire, as a way to live out their days; but a young man named Chris McCandless believed it was necessary to avoid the venomous grips of society. McCandless goes as far as to venture out to the rest of the United States and even crossing borders to achieve his true destination, Alaska. He shows us living such a life can hold many unique and wonderful experiences. Consequently, he also shows us the difficulties that most do not expect upon leaving for such a journey. Many speak about the advantages, like the freedom they enjoy, and the wondrous relationships formed along the way; but even so, some disadvantages outweigh the advantages, like the
The Hitchhiking Game describes an internal combat that focuses on internal character and the discovery of new selves within. Kundera presents to the audience a story about a young man and a girl who lose themselves while trying to portray someone they customarily are not. Throughout their portrayal of “happy-go-lucky” and “irresponsible” strangers, the young man loses trust in the girl and is never able to view her the same way again. Although the girl did not want to advance the game once she recognized his aversion towards her actions, he was too invested in the role he was portraying to turn back. He became disgusted with the “alien whore” she had become and at once stopped treating her with the respect and love he had before, and began treating her as an object of desire. It is apparent that Kundera believes we are very complex creatures that do not have a static and stable character. Kundera wrote, “perhaps it was a part of her being which had formerly been locked up and which the pretext of the game had let out of its cage.”(pg.123) I think this quote successfully encapsulates the way Kundera perceives our character and how divergent it can be.
The great changes in American society that came with the introduction bicycle in the late 19th century are often overshadowed by the influence of the automobile in the following decades. Today, bicycles are often seen as an alternative mode of transportation - a cleaner and more environmentally conscious form of travel. Because of this, it may be difficult to realize the incredible modernizing effects that bicycles had on American society when they were first introduced. Manufacturing and marketing techniques introduced by the bicycle industry were massive steps towards modern industrial practices. In addition, by making individual travel available to many people for the first time, bicycles changed the speed at which life flowed in much of America. Bicycles granted a degree of personal freedom of mobility to many for the first time, and their effect on the women's rights movement of the time was notable. Bicycles were used in war, by police, and by the postal service, among others. In countless walks of life, the availability of personal travel offered by bicycles had an incredible impact on American society.
Business travelers who spend much of their time in the car (like real estate sales agents)
After hitchhiking across multiple countries, HitchBots’ hike was ended in downtown Philadelphia.“Created through a collaboration between McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and Ryerson University in Toronto, its inventors said they planned to have the robot hitchhike from East Coast to West Coast as part of a social experiment,”(The Recorder 1). They created a robot that would rely on the kindness of strangers to take it to it’s next destination. “It was designed to be unfailingly polite in its requests for help and could carry on a limited conversation,”(Carter 2).And could also share a number of factoids along the way. He had a GPS inside the body to allow his creators to keep track on him. But before HitchBot made his way onto the United States he had already traveled across Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany. Some strangers
The American economy has suffered many financial blows in the recent years, but none have such a drastic and heavy effect on the average American than the rising gas prices. A solution to the Gas Crisis, a new and formidable crisis involving the high cost for gasoline powered transportation, must have widespread results across American commuters to either increase the efficiency of drivers, drastically lower gas prices, or provide alternate modes of transportation, consequently allowing for American commuters to be able to efficiently transport themselves at a moderate price.
Imagine sitting in the front seat of a car, watching a movie, eating popcorn and other good food, and running into other friends and family members. This was a common occurrence with drive-in movie theaters during the 1960s.Teenagers mostly went to the drive-ins because they would see how many people they could fit into a car trunk to lower the admission price. Families with younger kids enjoyed going to the drive-ins because it was a major convenience for them. For some people they went to the drive-ins to get away from their families and friends. Drive-ins were a popular form of entertainment during the 1960s.Drive-ins were designed to give people more room rather than be cramped in seats in a traditional
On the contrary, using private car is the same convenience of travelling as public transport. When people are in a hurry, they can suddenly go ev...