New Hitchhiking Poster Campaign Launched
Tuesday, August 6, 2013 @ 3:59 AM
Prince George, B.C. – A new poster campaign focused on hitchhiking, has been launched by the RCMP in partnership with the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC).While the poster does not encourage hitchhiking, it does offer some safety tips to those who do hitchhike.
“We know that sometimes women or youth will hitchhike” says NWAC President Michele Audette “It may be the only travel option that they have at that moment. We care for their well-being, and want to ensure that they trust their instincts and practice the suggested safety measures.”
The dangers associated with hitchhiking are only too real for the families who have suffered the loss of loved ones who have disappeared along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert. The so called “Highway of Tears” was the cause for a symposium in 2006 which called for the government to provide shuttle service transportation between the small communities along the length of highway. It is along this stretch where hitchhiking has become prevalent because of a number of reasons, including lack of public transportation, intermittent service ( Greyhound has just reduced service along this route) and lack of funding to pay for other means of transportation.
Just last month, the Provincial New Democrats called on the Provincial Government to come through with the recommended shuttle service “Many villages in the northwest have no public transportation options whatsoever. It’s not enough to tell young women ‘don’t hitchhike’ when for many there is simply no other option if they want to leave their communities” said Doug Donaldson, the MLA for Stikine.
The poster features an image of a woman hitchhiking and text that reads:
This ride may take you to a place you don’t want to go.
If you accept rides from strangers….
· Let someone know where you are going, when you expect to get there and that you have arrived safely.
· Carry a mobile phone and identification with you at all times.
· If you hitchhike, use roads that are heavily travelled.
· Always note the description of anyone who offers you a ride, including their vehicle.
· Share information about suspicious persons with the police – you could save a life!
Trust your instincts. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t get in!
The RCMP will make this poster available through its Aboriginal Policing Sections across the country while NWAC will distribute the poster through its provincial and territorial member associations and community networks.
Comments
OK…this is a great start. Wonderful to read this.
so when you get in the vehicle, text someone the information of what kind of vehicle it is. and all that stuff, while keeping the driver preoccupied by talking with them. Once the info is out there, than if anything happens, info is out there.
while i do view this measure as a step in a positive direction, there is still the very real issue of those who have been victimized by the rcmp themselves along the highway and in the area. while it is suggested you “Carry a mobile phone and identification with you at all times” those are two things the rcmp will take from their victims as soon as they possibly can.
Nice feel-good measure. Is there anyone anywhere who isn’t aware of the risks of hitchhiking?
If one could afford the cost and the ongoing expenses of a mobile phone, why would that same individual hitchhike? Economics, eh?
Being careful about hitchhiking is a good idea, but it isn’t clear to me that the disappearances are associated with the highway. If the population were evenly distributed over the north and the deaths and disappearances were concentrated along the highway, there would be a meaningful statistical association with the highway. The problem is that our population is not evenly distributed. Virtually ALL of our population is located along the highway. That means that even if there were no causal factor associated with the highway (that is, no serial killer travelling the highway, no one preying on hitchhikers), deaths and disappearances would still be concentrated along the highway simply because that is where the population is. Is there any reason to believe that the highway plays any causal role?
@ Harbinger:
The cost and ongoing expenses of a mobile phone? I work with at-risk, low income, high barrier populations (both male and female) and almost every single person of them in this population has a cellphone. Why? A little thing called pay and talk. You can buy a prepaid card for as little as $10 and it can last these people 2 weeks. Texting only usually. This population also needs a contact number to access and acquire social services. So $20 a month for a phone, does not in anyway, equate to a bus ticket from Terrace to Prince George, etc. Sorry.
billposer is correct, only 3 of the 11 women in the highway of tears case were last seen hitchhiking the rest being ‘found’ within 1km of the highway. (the other 7 of the 18 on the list are from down south not highway 16 east or west). We have no way of knowing the actual stats on hitchhiking except for in 1978-81 when the highway murders were happening all the victims were last seen hitchhiking before they disappeared along the Trans Canada.
A poster campaign is an excellent start and should have been the #1 recommendation over shuttles when one examines the cases. Even with a shuttle in the past there may have been an effect on 2 disappearances, but even with a shuttle people will thumb it. Yesterday went by 5 people hitchhiking at various times along highway 16 west from the Walmart on up to where Nicole was last seen by Vanway School. Only one was native and may have benefited from a shuttle between reserves, then again maybe not…
So a rather important and significant victim prevention recommendation in the 2006 Highway of Tears Symposium Recommendations Report was the establishment of a shuttle bus system connecting the communities along the highway of tears.
This recommendation was again reiterated and supported by Wally Oppal’s Forsaken: The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry; Volume III, page 216:
“B. Summary of Recommendations
I urge the Provincial Government to commit to these two measures immediately upon receipt of this report:
1) To provide funding to existing centres that provide emergency services to women engaged in the sex trade to enable them to remain open 24 hours per day.
2) To develop and implement an enhanced public transit system to provide a safer travel option connecting the Northern communities, particularly along Highway 16.”
But do carry on to those who think they are experts in the matter… ignore the real experts and the millions of dollars spent on the commission getting to the bottom of BC’s miserable, and internationally embarrassing, failure to protect, and investigate the disappearances and murders of our poor and marginalized women in this province.
WHAT A BLACK EYE ON ALL OF US!!!
Despite the millions of dollars spent analyzing this issue, a shuttle system wouldn’t do anything. It inevitably wouldn’t run on everyone’s ‘schedule’ and there would still be people out there hitchhiking.
Everyone knows it can be risky to hitchhike. Some people just don’t care or think it won’t happen to them. It’s human nature, really.
Bang on Johnnybelt, you nailed it in my humble opinion. The bus, its driver, the other passengers, the schedule, the cool/uncool factor, all of these things could influence someone’s decision to hitchhike instead of taking the bus. Its a nice idea, but it probably would not be very successful.
On the other hand;
Education for this type of thing (hitchhiking) starts at home, well informed kids, with some structure and self discipline would probably not mind planning to take the bus and adapting to the schedule.
Just an opinion, I don’t mean to step on any toes.
metalman.
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