Reflective suit and light helps really a lot, it is my best tip for hitchhiking in the dark, especially on non motorways where you stand by the roadside.

Ten days ago I came back in three days from the middle of Slovakia to the Netherlands, with stays overnight in Bratislava and Wurzburg. On the Austrian-German border I made my biggest mistake in my 5 yrs of hh so far. I let my phone in the car. It was the last half our with light that day, clearly I was confused / out of balance coz I lost my phone. Thus I had to hitchhike in the dark. On the Austrian-German border (beginning of German A3) it is possible to hitchhike on the motorway as there is a speed limit of 60 kmh. In the dark it took a while to get away, after 20 minutes (when it really got dark) I took on my reflective vest (it weighs nothing!!) and lighted it with my headlight, and another reflector on my arm. Every five minutes or so I could let a car stop and the 4th or 5th was prepared to take me AND had space in the Mercedes.

In this situation reflective coat, reflector and ligth SAVED MY ASS!!!

In Slovakia and Poland I also hitchhiked in the dark on countryside road (national road 30 in Poland from Zgorzelec (Gorlitz-PL) to Jelenia Gora (Hirschberg)) with the reflective vest and worked quite well. I used my headlight, it goes like this (see also the FAQ on www.autostop.lt): on quiet road with a lot of darkness show NO light untill the driver is about 10 seconds away. Then (at the right moment!) start blinking, with my headlight I can switch from white to red light, so blinking red-white-red-white-red-white. It catches the immediate attention of the driver. Usually slows down from 80 kmh to 30-40 kmh when done in the right way. Driver is very attentive, who and what is blinking there (police?). With the car 3-5 seconds away lift the arm with reflective band on it... look at the driver... driver may stop...

It worked very well for me. So I got a lift in the dark in Slovakia from a driver with three giggling young nons :) :) :)