My first run in with the long arm of the law
Filed under: Author: Villy
Well, all of you knew it would happen, it was just a matter of when. I finally had my first brush with the law in Thailand. Janis, my Aunt, and I were driving to the center of Bangkok to have lunch with my family last Sunday. I was driving, Janis was in the front and my Aunt was sitting in the back giving me directions.
So I'm driving down Petchaburi road which is a variable lane street - a street where the amount of lanes in each direction is determined dynamically based on traffic conditions. For instance, it could have 4 westbound lanes and 2 eastbound lanes in the morning and the opposite in the afternoon. The directions of the lanes are determined by a series of lights over the roadway denoting either a green arrow or red X. Little did I know that after 11am all of the lanes are eastbound lanes. So I'm driving along when a cop jumps out in front of the car in front of me and in front of our car and directs us over to the side. When I open the window, the cop leans in and asks me for my ID; I just stare back at him blankly. He asks again - more blank stares (I do understand what he's asking for but technically I don't have an ID carcd). So my Aunt asks him what's wrong and he tells us that we're driving down the street illegally (along with a flotilla of other cars I might add). She says she didn't know it's illegal and asks him if she can pay the fine here so we don't have to go to the police station; she offers him 100 baht (a little of $3 US). He says "no, hand me your ID" and we're thinking, man, we somehow got the one honest cop in Thailand. As it turned out he was just looking for a little more money. My aunt continued to argue with him until another cop came over and told him to just take it at which point he took it and let us pass - he had a bunch of other cars waiting.
Part of me thinks all this is the product of a corrupt police system, but in reality it's not all that different from the US. In the US, departments set the speed low and then make speed traps to insure that the department has enough revenue to keep it running. This is basically the same thing, just with less red tape, and thus lower fees. All the money that the cops take goes into a community pot, and the money is allocated based on rank and seniority as the cops don't earn enough salary to make a living. I do wonder how far this goes though. I'm sure you're all eagerly awaiting my armed robbery blog post.
So I'm driving down Petchaburi road which is a variable lane street - a street where the amount of lanes in each direction is determined dynamically based on traffic conditions. For instance, it could have 4 westbound lanes and 2 eastbound lanes in the morning and the opposite in the afternoon. The directions of the lanes are determined by a series of lights over the roadway denoting either a green arrow or red X. Little did I know that after 11am all of the lanes are eastbound lanes. So I'm driving along when a cop jumps out in front of the car in front of me and in front of our car and directs us over to the side. When I open the window, the cop leans in and asks me for my ID; I just stare back at him blankly. He asks again - more blank stares (I do understand what he's asking for but technically I don't have an ID carcd). So my Aunt asks him what's wrong and he tells us that we're driving down the street illegally (along with a flotilla of other cars I might add). She says she didn't know it's illegal and asks him if she can pay the fine here so we don't have to go to the police station; she offers him 100 baht (a little of $3 US). He says "no, hand me your ID" and we're thinking, man, we somehow got the one honest cop in Thailand. As it turned out he was just looking for a little more money. My aunt continued to argue with him until another cop came over and told him to just take it at which point he took it and let us pass - he had a bunch of other cars waiting.
Part of me thinks all this is the product of a corrupt police system, but in reality it's not all that different from the US. In the US, departments set the speed low and then make speed traps to insure that the department has enough revenue to keep it running. This is basically the same thing, just with less red tape, and thus lower fees. All the money that the cops take goes into a community pot, and the money is allocated based on rank and seniority as the cops don't earn enough salary to make a living. I do wonder how far this goes though. I'm sure you're all eagerly awaiting my armed robbery blog post.
hiro
May 14, 2008 at 9:36 PM