Traffic Koans [Day 19]

in #traffic-koans7 years ago (edited)

This is Day 19 of the 30-day Traffic Koans contest. Details on how to enter can be found here: https://steemit.com/traffic-koans/@jedau/traffic-koans-halfway-update-1505319420-6600256


traffic-koans

"Stop right there," a man in blue demanded. He was carrying a baton, and he had an air of authority.

"What's wrong," the woman asked, complying to the demand. "Is there a problem?"

"Don't you know that it's illegal to walk here without taking your top off?"

"Well, that's absurd!" she shouted, irritated. "Who would impose such a thing?"

"Rules are rules," the man in blue excused. "Take your top off or walk somewhere else."

The woman was in a rush, so she took her top off begrudgingly. She had an ample bosom, so the man seized the opportunity to stare lasciviously.

A woman behind her saw this, so she took her top off in advance, so that she won't be accosted by the man.

"Hold it right there," the man instructed. "Cover yourself up!"

"What's the problem?" the woman asked. "You told the woman ahead of me that this was the custom, so I followed the rules."

"Yeah well, she has very good breasts while you have a chest that is even flatter than mine. You would need to pay a fine for walking around naked."


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Oh, cops. In terms of stories about corruption, they're a gift that keeps on giving. Just yesterday, @dreemit shared a tale of her own experience. To be fair though, not all cops are bad. I say that with an asterisk.

Here in the Philippines, the traffic enforcers aren't really cops at all! Well, some of them are, but not all of them. It really gets confusing at times. But, whatever shade of uniform they wear, many of them are the epitome of corruption. Again, I'm not pertaining to all of them, as I feel that there are a handful of law enforcers who applied to their jobs with the purest of intentions.

A lot of the ones I've mentioned in the earlier koans persist because traffic enforcers refuse to deal with them accordingly. Jeepneys, buses, and other PUVs are under the thumb of the greatest syndicate of them all—the police force. I mean, who would police the police? Heck, these days, cops are even getting away with murder. I do mean that in the most literal sense. The only agency that has any power to stop them—the Commission on Human Rights—has just been given a 1000Php annual budget. Let's put that into perspective. One thousand pesos doesn't even buy you a complete meal in a classy restaurant. How would that support the plight of thousands of human rights victims? I don't want to get too political, so I'll leave it at that.

Going back to corrupt traffic enforcers, I have been a victim of them twice in my life. Granted, I did make some traffic violations, so me bribing them only fed the system. For that, I apologize. It was either that or have my license taken away and lost in the system. The first instance was when I was lost and found myself in a bus lane. At the beginning of it, I came across an officer that just let me through. He didn't stop me and told me that I was going the wrong way. No. He just permitted me to pass, not knowing that I was being led to a bus lane. At the end of it, a different officer flagged me down and told me that I illegally drove on the bus lane. I reasoned that it was my first time there, coming from the province, and I was unfamiliar with the structure. Also, I told him that another officer just let me pass as if I was in the right lane. I pleaded for him to give me a pass since this was my first offense, and that I wasn't going to do it again.


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Image Source

He refused to listen to my plea, and instead told me the consequences of my action. I was told that my license would be suspended and that I had to go through days of seminars and have to pay a hefty fee to get my license reinstated. He made it seem like I was never going to outlive this mistake, and that I would carry this for the rest of my life. I was young and naive, so I was visibly nervous at the thought of it. He then asked me what I wanted to do.


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Emoji Source

I kept wondering what other choice was there. But then, it dawned on me: he was asking if I wanted to bribe him, without asking outright. You see, even though it was my first time to be flagged down, I have been a passenger of many such events and have seen bribes at the end of almost all of them. There was just one time when my father was flagged down, and he tried to bribe the officer, but the officer would have none of it and scolded him for it. See, I told you there are still a handful of non-corrupt people in the force. But, this was my turn at the plate. Should I risk being scolded or should I just accept the consequences of my ignorance? I ask for your apology, because I chose the latter. I wish that I could turn back time, but it is what is.

"Is there anything I can do, officer?" I asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "You tell me."

"Could I just pay the fine here and not have my license taken?"

"That's not something you can do," he told me, as he handed me a black tickler.


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Tickler Source

No, not that kind of tickler! Anyway, he instructed me to slip, what I would assume as my license, there. He didn't say it outright though, so instead I slipped a hundred peso bill that @randomli handed me. Yup, my fiancee was there, but she was just my girlfriend at the time. The officer got the tickler back, smiled, and let us off with a warning. Easy peasy. But, I felt sick to my stomach after I realized I just fed the system. Well, that was until I committed another error.

This time, we were heading to the airport to fetch @randomli's father. It was my first time driving there, and we missed a turn. Thankfully, we were in an intersection, so I backed up slowly because there were no cars behind us. We were hesitant because we saw four officers just hanging around in the shade. Both of us didn't know if we're doing something legal, but we risked it anyway because the officers didn't seem to pay any attention to us. There was an island that separated cars turning right from those who were heading straight, so we were sure it was illegal to turn right from we were. So, we backed up. When we were able to turn, the officers flagged us down. Apparently, they were just waiting for us to come closer because they didn't want to walk.

"Don't you know what you did was illegal?" one of them asked us.

"I'm sorry, officer," I said. "I honestly didn't know."

"That's obstruction of traffic, quite a major offense. License and registration."

I handed him what he asked for, and he returned to his group. @randomli wanted to capture it all in video, but instead went on to research if we were within our rights. She found out that traffic enforcers were assigned their own posts and that it was illegal for them to huddle together in one spot. The internet search also returned that licenses couldn't be taken anymore, and instead tickets were issued, which we have to pay at a bank. His retreat gave us more time to be more informed. In anticipation of the worst, I took out the money from my wallet. When he returned, we were prepared.

"Here's your registration, but I'm going to have to take your license."

"Isn't it against the law to do that now?"

"If you committed a minor violation, then I wouldn't need to take it, but you committed a serious offense."

"But there were no other cars there."

"Yeah, but what if there were."

He then proceeded to tell me what the consequences were, the same scare tactic as before, to which I replied with my sob story. Now, at that point, I really haven't learned my lesson, and I was in a bit of a hurry. I didn't want to meet my girlfriend's father just coming from my license being taken.

"Could you let us off with a warning? It's really our first time here, and we're very sorry for the violation."

"I can't do that, you were captured by the CCTV cameras."

"Officer, please. I... I really can't afford to lose my license."

"You know... you could pay me the fine."

"How much is it again?"

"5000 pesos."

"But, I don't have that kind of money on me."

"How much do you have?"

I took out my wallet, but when I flipped it, a 500 peso bill appeared. Good grief, I thought.

"500 pesos," I replied, much to my chagrin.

"Is that really all you have?"

I showed him my wallet, and flashed a sad face. "See?"

"Well, alright. I'll take it. Just to be clear, this is payment for the fine. I'm covering the remaining balance from my own pocket, just to let you off the hook. You will have a mark in your record because you were captured in the CCTV though. But, since you already paid me the fine, I'm going to write you a receipt. At least you wouldn't have to go through the seminars."

"Thank you, officer. You're so kind."

He went back to his group again, so I rolled up the window. We checked the rear view mirror, and saw that there were no CCTV cameras present. Months later, when I renewed my license, I asked to check if I had any violations and was told that I had none in my record. The officer came back, handed me my license back and gave me a shoddy receipt. We went on our way, and I avoided Waze for a number of months because it cost me 500 bucks.

All in all, I spent 1000 pesos just to avoid getting blemishes on my record. Ironically, that's the same amount that congress had alotted as the annual budget for the Commission on Human Rights.

What's your traffic violation story? Ever had a run in with a corrupt traffic enforcer? Don't be shy. Sound off in the comments section below! :D


THIS IS A CONTEST WITH SBD PRIZES!


To know how to enter, check out the link below


https://steemit.com/traffic-koans/@jedau/traffic-koans-halfway-update-1505319420-6600256



Vote @lukestokes.mhth | @steemgigs as Steemit witnesses!



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Ugh, what a story. It looks like I have been only to nice countries with kind people as police officers - and I hope it remains this way.
But I can tell you an amazing story. Once I visited Holland exactly when all state employees were on strike. Truly, all were on strike. But the way this strike looked like was truly hilarious. Every state official was on his/her post, they just didn't work. We - the visitors- were sitting on the carriers of our host's bicycles. Embraced by the late autumn night, hoping to give us the cloak of invisibility, and hiding us from the police as human package on a bike was not exactly allowed, let alone riding without light, we were stopped by two police officers. Instead of giving us a ticket to pay a fine, he calmly and politely stated, "You should not sit on the carrier, so we should fine you, but as we are on strike we will let you go. But tomorrow the strike will be over, and you might get a fine, if you ride this way."
So, maybe your police officers there are on constant strike or they are just another political party, some sort of shadow government in opposition to the government policy, some sort of deep state pursuing their own political decisions regardless to the newly adopted laws and policies.

ENLIGHTENED!!!

Ahaha! That's an awesome story! You guys were lucky the police officers were on strike!! They even gave you a good tip for the future, too! That's some kind of police force haha!

It's a good thought to have, talking about your suggestion of the traffic police here constantly on strike or working for a shadow government. Unfortunately, as per Occam's Razor, I would have to say that they're just lazy and corrupt haha!

Thanks for stopping by to share that wonderful tale! Oh and thank you for all the resteems as well, I appreciate it very much :D

Oh wow!! You have corrupt cops! We don't. Will, I mean we probably do but not the traffic cops. They would rather easy their own feet than let you of with an offense no matter how much you bribed em.

hehe, you said lasciviously

Oh dude, the traffic cops here are on a whole other level. This is just my opinion, but I strongly believe that they feel like they should get paid more even while they have their feet up the whole day. During the Christmas season, they're more active than ever because people usually have more cash with them haha! The only downside for them is if they get caught in accidents.

It's great you pointed that out because I just saw a grammatical error in the same sentence as lasciviously haha! Thanks for that, broseph! :D

Not the dread grammatical errors!!!

My grammar can be terrible because I do a lot on my phone so it makes it harder to proofread. I hate looking back and seeing glaring errors!

For me, my grammar is mostly terrible because, well... Oh look blinky cursor! C'mere blinky cursor!

It blinks and winks and shines!! Woohoo!!

Let's chase it!

It disappeared when I clicked POST. Damn POST... Oh, wait! There it is again!!

I see it, I see it!!

Where?? Where!? Oh there it is!

Oh Please, cops stories. Where to start?... They have caught me 4 times in my life committing infractions, and how many fees i got? None.
Four different places, four different cops, four different infractions, 3 different cities and only one story:

  1. I do something that I shouldn't
  2. Cop catch me and command to pull over
  3. He explains how is it wrong and accept my foul
  4. Cop immediately tells me how much the fine would be and take a few steps back giving me time to "think"(count how much I got in cash)
  5. Meanwhile I do nothing
  6. Cop comes back and say "What are we gonna do?"
  7. I ask him to just give me my ticket
  8. Surprised Cop directly ask how much I got to bribe him so he can let me got without a fine
  9. I insist for about 5 minutes that I just want my ticket and I'll be gone
  10. Disappointed cop tells me "ok dude it's alright but don't do it again"
  11. I just keep driving

FIN

ENLIGHTENED!!!

HAHAHA!! You know, while I was a passenger, that happened one or two times. I froze while I was in the moment, and I was too scared (I admit it) to call their bluff at the time, that's why I didn't try this. Balls of steel, man! You, sir, deserve a standing ovation. Bravo!

Man, I don't know what I would've done if I asked for the ticket and he gave it to me without asking for a bribe haha! This story is all kinds of awesome! Thank you for sharing it here :D

HI @jedau :) This looks like a cool contest and I'd like to join, but I'm a little confused where to find the daily koan :/

A little lost, confused, and needing (traffic) directions.

Cheers....@steemmeupscotty

Scotty doesn't know! Scotty doesn't know! Scotty doesn't know! Scotty doesn't know! Scotty gotta know!....
lol sorry, couldn't resist
[Old joke XD] (

)

Nice one - 😜

Oh hey hey! Thank you for taking an interest in our little contest :D This post right here is the daily koan for day 19. You can check my profile and see the daily koans for the previous day. The koans, specifically, is the grayed out text at the very beginning of the post. It's a short story that always pertains to a traffic violation. Once you figure out what it's talking about, look back and see if you have a similar story regarding it. Feel free to submit to any of the previous koans as well. The deadline for all the entries is the end of the month, so even during day 29, you can submit for day 1.

Does that clarify things? I'm glad you didn't use Waze for this one ;) If you have any more questions, feel free to let me know. It would be great if you could get your entry in before the deadline :D

Ok cool - Thanks so much for your reply :) Gotcha. Funny, I'm not driving these days since I live in Hong Kong, and with the public transport being so great plus the cost and upkeep of vehicles being insane I'm gonna have to dig down for some memories of yesteryears. Do pedestrian infractions count too? I've got a few of them :/

There are some like jaywalking etc in the previous koans, so yeah! :D Feel free to just share what you feel like sharing, man! Looking forward to reading about your tales :D

Coolio ;)

Great! Looking forward to your entry. Live long and prosper :D

I do have to remind you that it's only up until the end of the month, so if you see a violation, report it leave a comment on it :D

Ha ha, I'm a good driver, no tickets.

You're lucky! In all of years of driving, not even one ticket or accident? That's actually very impressive! Way to go being a model citizen, man :D

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