I wouldn't rule it out. I've given random people rides that asked for it in a parking lot or at a gas station before. Depends on circumstances, really. I'm not particularly paranoid about strangers but I'm also not going to stop along the highway to pick someone up. But if they asked at like a rest stop and they were just wanting to be taken in the direction I'm going and I could drop them at another, I'd be alright with giving someone a ride.
Years ago, I used to pick up hitch hikers as I used to do a lot of hitch hiking myself back in the day, but now I am much more careful and the world has gotten a lot crazier.
There was young temporary employee that called in saying she would be late to work one morning. She was a summer temp. When she finally got to work she told us at lunch what happened. Her boyfriend was driving her to work ( about 3 miles to the work site). He saw a man that he was very casually acquainted with flagging him down. So he stopped and was asked for a ride. He said yes and the man got in. In less than a mile they were pulled over by the police. The cops made them get out of the car one by one and lay face down on the pavement with shot guns held to their heads. Then they told him that the friend had just robbed a Family Dollar store. They were all taken into the police statin and interrogated separately and finally released after about 2 hours. Just another reason not to give a hitchhiker a ride.
I USED to pick up kids hitching locally if the weather was bad. I mean...kids who should NEVER have been hitching. I felt like I was keeping them safe. But I would never pick up an adult.
