Finally we understand how the ticketing and paying of traffic fines functions in Mexico.
If you live near the Mexican border as we do, you’ve probably driven in Mexico and are somewhat fearful of your vehicle being stopped by a police officer.
We’d always heard that you would be stopped randomly and expected to pay a bribe. Although this is true in some countries, it’s not necessarily the norm in Mexico.
The first week in Oaxaca, we noticed a car illegally parked near our restaurant. While watching out the window, a police officer approached the vehicle to check for a driver. When one could not be found, the officer returned to his vehicle to retrieve some kind of tool which we couldn’t make out. He proceeded to bend over near the front bumper.
Do you have an idea of what he was doing?
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Later, I asked my friends what was going on. This is what they told me: Since many of the drivers in Oaxaca are visiting tourists from other parts of Mexico, when they get a parking ticket they tend to disregard the payment.
The ticket doesn’t follow the vehicle throughout the nation, so once the car leaves town, Oaxaca won’t see that payment unless they catch them next time they’re in the city.
The owner of the car can reclaim the license plate only by paying their fines down at the station where the plate resides.
Here is the truth about traffic tickets in Mexico. It is actually very simple. When you are stopped, the officer will present you with the price of the ticket.
At this point you have two choices.
That’s it! Simple.
There is nothing to be afraid of here, except maybe the price of the ticket!
Judge for yourself. Here’s what happened during Lisa’s college days in Tijuana on Spring Break. Would a bribe get us out of this mess?
The bribe or go to jail mentality was our frame of reference when a police vehicle pulled behind our car and began flashing his lights. The driver of our vehicle starts freaking out and oddly continues driving although very slowly.
Us passengers are advising him to pull over but he kept driving for another 1/2 mile not sure what to do. Are we supposed to offer him a bribe? How much do we offer as a bribe? Will we get in trouble if we offer a bribe? All these questions are going through our head.
Mind you, this is back when we were college students so we are driving a $500 junker. Realistically how much of a bribe could they get out of us? Ten bucks?
This incident is occurring on a busy street filled with spring break revelers so it’s not like anything is going to happen to us, so finally the driver pulls over.
A short drive later we arrive at the police station. Because of the horror stories we’d heard all our life (which probably weren’t true), we’re thinking that our driver is going to be arrested and possibly the car impounded so we’re trying to figure out our next move.
It’s not like we’re staying in a hotel with packed wallets. We are poor college students planning to camp on one of the public beaches.
The situation was pretty tense. In the station garage, our officer approaches our vehicle and begins speaking to my friend in Spanish. My friend spoke broken Spanish so I don’t know if the officer just gave up trying to communicate or what, but eventually, thankfully, they let us go without paying them any money or getting in any trouble at all.
What do you think? Was the officer vying for a bribe or not?
