Valley Commentary : Let’s Not Stall : A computer-aided ‘90s version of hitchhiking can be a reliable, safe way of making roads less congested. The system works well in Germany.

Earthquakes are here to stay. Traffic will be delivering aftershocks for a long time to come. The pols insist that solutions to our car problems will be costly and difficult. But here’s one that’s cheap and easy.

It’s a form of hitchhiking based on a system used in Germany. It’s a little more complicated and a lot safer than sticking out your thumb or picking up riders.

Mitfahrerzentrale is a central ride-sharing agency that, with a simple phone call, connects a driver traveling somewhere with an empty seat to a passenger going in the same direction. It’s hitchhiking computerized and made safe.

On a recent business trip, I was impressed that Berliners, Hamburgers and residents of most major cities have the system, with a toll-free 24-hour phone number that hooks up riders with drivers on relatively short notice. The plan is well-used, especially among students and environmentalists.

The number is in telephone directories, on billboards near bus and subway stops and in tourist publications. It works! Similar agencies exist in other European cities and England, where an outfit called Freewheelers has a system that includes photo IDs and extensive intercity trip-sharing.

We have something vaguely similar called the Commuter Computer, operated since 1974 by Commuter Transportation Services. But it connects only commuters regularly going to the same location.

Hitchhiking was once widespread. However, thumbing a ride has declined in ratio to the increase of urban violence. Although I hitchhiked through my university years, I wouldn’t chance it now. Some of the people inhabiting our roadsides might as well carry signs threatening, “ Don’t give me a ride, or else!”

But risk can be reduced, if not eliminated. A safe plan can be created for Valley residents.

We would need an agency with access to police and Department of Motor Vehicles files. It would issue “hitchhiking licenses” to riders and drivers.

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Applicants would be required to pass a police-type inspection to eliminate those with aberrant or criminal backgrounds. Those qualified would be issued waterproof licenses prominently displaying their photographs, fingerprints, physical descriptions and a permit number. The licenses should be large enough to see from several feet away.

Driver and hitchhiker would then regard one another and their corresponding licenses from a secure distance, before offering or accepting a ride. A woman could decide to travel only with another woman, for instance.

Hitchhiking pickup spots could be established at bus stops and freeway on-ramps. This would allow quick, safe entry and exit for passengers, requiring no tax dollars for new construction. Participants could go anywhere with greater speed, ease and comfort. It would be easier than driving solo, planning difficult ride-shares or waiting for the public transport.

One can imagine incentives to encourage safe hitching. One idea: coupon books good for 10 rides that a rider would buy for $5, or 50 cents per ride. The driver could collect the coupons and redeem each stamp received for a 40-cent discount on a gasoline purchase. The 10-cent difference might be split between the service station operator and the agency.

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Byproducts could be increased social interaction and community friendliness, as former strangers exchange rides and conversation, and become acquainted. People that share are people that succeed. And that holds true for those torn by stress, or earthquakes.

Without new taxes, this plan would give communities a way to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and petroleum consumption. And that, in turn, would bolster our quake-ridden economy.