I wonder if it's related to the nature of the societal safety net.
Here's a somewhat strained comparison: a few years ago I listened to a podcast featuring Juan Pablo Villarino [1], who's hitchhiked through nearly 100 countries. If I remember correctly, his observation was that the hardest place to hitchhike was northern Europe, and that by comparison poor and even war-torn places were quite easy. The suggested explanation was that in northern Europe, the expectation is that if you are hitchhiking and relying on strangers, then you've done something weird to fall outside of the normal run of things, and you must be a weirdo. By contrast, in more chaotic places it's more plausible that you have just fallen through some cracks that anyone could fall through, and it's perfectly reasonable to need a lift (or a meal, or some other helping hand).
I can 100% confirm this. I have hitchhiked very poor and war-torn places, even hitchhiked over national borders near recent conflicts in the news, and you rarely wait long for a ride. First world countries on the poorer side, like Spain and Portugal, you can still hitchhike easily, but you might have to wait. Meanwhile, I've tried hitchhiking in the Netherlands and Germany, and good luck. While it is still possible, it is absolutely not a reliable mode of transportation. You can very easily be passed by hundreds of cars without getting a ride.
I know how much the HN crowd loves their numbers, so I'll try to put some very vague numbers on percentage chance a given driver is willing to pick up any hitchhiker at all (assuming they're able to, going the right way, have free space etc), based on my own experience:
- Portugal/Spain: ~5%
- France: ~3%
- Very rural France: ~10%
- Netherlands/Germany: ~0.3%
- Rural Netherlands: ~1%
- America, rural West: ~3-5%
- America, East: ~1-3%
- War-torn areas, rural: ~70%
- War-torn areas, city: ~20%
There are many other factors, of course: the number of cars per minute, the percentage of cars that have space available, the percentage of cars going your direction, your appearance, your gender, rides you refuse (women often have to refuse rides that seem a bit weird, or maybe to be extra safe they only want to ride with women, etc.) There's the baggage you're carrying, the time of day, the place you're standing, sign or no sign, if you look foreign (usually helps), smile or no smile, etc etc.
If anyone is on the edge about hitchhiking, I would definitely encourage trying it (either picking up hitchhikers, or hitchhiking yourself, once the world gets back to normal.) It's a beautiful sort of exercise in trust and generosity in a modern society that lacks both.
Years ago, before I first tried to hitchhike, I asked myself "is it practical?" That is, can you actually semi-reliably get places by hitchhiking? The answer: absolutely. Sure, you might have to wait a while for a ride, and sure, you might get some weirdos, but I have hitchhiked in many countries and have never had an issue that couldn't be solved by saying "hey, I gotta get out near here, thanks for the ride."
And if you're trying to convince yourself to try it, but are paralyzed by fear - just think: the strangers on the road are the same strangers at the grocery store, the same strangers in line at McDonalds, the same strangers in the chairs at the library. Why not stick out your thumb and pass the miles by with a fellow resident of this pale blue dot?
Australia has it's own set of problems too, with distances being so vast between capitals, I imagine if you're not on the east cost you're not going to see any at all.
I did once wonder to myself "Are there non-english language travel youtube channels about Australia", so I searched my home town in Japanese, and sure enough there was! This Japanese guy was hitchiking from all the major cities, he would do so mostly from truck stops.
One thing I noticed was that, whilst a decent amount of people wanted to help, they were rarely going where he wanted to go, and so it could take him a day or two to find a ride.
Here's a somewhat strained comparison: a few years ago I listened to a podcast featuring Juan Pablo Villarino [1], who's hitchhiked through nearly 100 countries. If I remember correctly, his observation was that the hardest place to hitchhike was northern Europe, and that by comparison poor and even war-torn places were quite easy. The suggested explanation was that in northern Europe, the expectation is that if you are hitchhiking and relying on strangers, then you've done something weird to fall outside of the normal run of things, and you must be a weirdo. By contrast, in more chaotic places it's more plausible that you have just fallen through some cracks that anyone could fall through, and it's perfectly reasonable to need a lift (or a meal, or some other helping hand).
[1] https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-juan...