In 156 episodes of "Highway Patrol", Dan Mathews committed just one noteworthy error in police tactics and it occurs in this episode. Dan manages to capture Dolly Parker by the side of the road, but he forgets that Joe Parker is nearby and has a potential hostage. When Joe threatens to kill the abducted businessman, Dan is forced to surrender his gun and allow Dolly to handcuff him to his patrol car. Mathews volunteers to do this himself; he attaches one cuff to his left wrist and the other to the post between the main window on the driver's door and the smaller ventilation window. Dolly also takes the handcuff key. When Mathews subsequently asks Sergeant Williams to "get me out of this", Williams smirks and Dan is forced to gruffly admit, "Awright, awright - I goofed! Gimme your keys!"
Although his character of the businessman survived being abducted, in real life this was the last acting role for Robert Cavendish, who would pass away 4 years later at age 41.
The same title ("Hitchhiker") was also used for episode No. 1.6, which originally aired during November 1955. The stories were not similar.
While it was generally thought the program took place in California, the robber while in the diner tells his wife "It's a long way to California." His trail of robberies were said to have covered a distance of over 1400 miles.