CALIFORNIA CRIMES AND ACCIDENTS ASSOCIATED WITH HITCHHIKING
Data were gathered from all field commands of the highway patrol. In addition, cooperation was requested from the chiefs of all police department and sheriffs of all counties in California. Law enforcement agencies were asked to respond to six questions and to send a copy of their crime and accident reports involving hitchhikers. A total of 662 reports were received. It was found that hitchhikers were involved in an estimated 0.26 percent of the accidents and 0.63 percent of the crimes during the study period. Hitchhikers were more likely to be victims (71.7 percent) then perpetrators (28.3 percent) of major crimes. Hitchhiker characteristics were fairly consistent whether they were victims of crimes, involved in accidents or suspects of crimes. The average hitchhiker age was 21 years old, and between 9 and 12 percent of all hitchhikers were female. Female hitchhikers were found to be seven times more likely to be victims of crimes than males. About 80 percent of the crimes against female hitchhikers were sex related. Also, the other party involved in a hitchhiker related crime was a motor vehicle driver in 95 percent of the cases.
-
Corporate Authors:
California Highway Patrol
P.O. Box 942898
Sacramento, CA United States 94298-0001 - Publication Date: 1974
Media Info
- Pagination: 78 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Crash rates; Crash reports; Crash victims; Crimes; Law enforcement
- Uncontrolled Terms: Hitchhiking
- Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00141767
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Criminal Justice Service
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Aug 4 1977 12:00AM