<p>I’m not worried about students accepting rides from “strangers” because they are strangers but rather because the rider has not had the opportunity to judge the individual’s driving habits.</p>
<p>It’s different with a friend. If a student has a friend on campus who has a car, chances are that the student has accepted a ride from that friend to some nearby destination – such as a supermarket. There has been at least some chance to observe that friend’s driving habits, at relatively low risk (because the drive was short and, in an extreme situation, the rider could have gotten out of the car and called a cab to get back to campus). The student probably also knows whether or not the driver is likely to be carrying illegal substances in the car, and whether the driver is likely to be hung over or exhausted on the drive home. </p>
<p>My son, a college senior who does not have a car, has many friends on campus who do have cars. There are some whom he is entirely comfortable riding with. There are others whose cars he wouldn’t get into if they were the last form of transportation on earth. These are people he knows. He has had a chance to make judgments. You can’t do that with a ride board.</p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned, ride board = hitch hiking. I see no difference.</p>