“Good afternoon sir!” The traffic police officer beamed as I lowered my car window.
“erm… hi.” I replied flatly. Not feeling too friendly since I just got flagged down at the police roadblock, as usual.
“Yes sir, our cameras caught you speeding @ 121km/h near the 71 marker.” The policeman continued almost enthusiatically.
And then he paused, staring intently @ me with his eyebrows raised.
This is way too familiar for me. Must have encountered it at least 10 times.
A friend once commented that their “friendly service” rivals that of even 5-star hotels.
In a nearby country where I live, they have this super duper long highway called the “Never Smooth” highway in short N.S. Highway.
I travel on it rather often, and must have clocked more than 40,000km on it by now.
Where the speed limit is 110km/h, I usually get caught between 120-130km/h, regretting later why I did not go even faster since I was going to be stopped anyways.
The deal is simple – “let us fine you and pay $300/- at the station or settle for 10% of the fine right now and nobody will ever know about it”
I know what I choose everytime.
But what about you?
Would you pay the $300 or the 10%?
Technorati Tags: life, thoughts, highway, bribe, corruption, fined, flagged
Highway of Life 
10% – if the country or the police force in this place is already like this, one person fighting corruption wont make a difference.
yes i know the ‘everyone can make a difference’ thing, yada yada yada but sometimes it takes more than just 1.
lol thanks for the honesty – think you’ve mentioned about this country in your recent posts 😀
I’d offer to take up the $300 at the police station. Why? Because every one of my friend who have offered to take it gets away completely.
Because policemen who are looking to make a quick buck don’t want to spend time writing out a summons ticket in the middle of an “operation”. In the time of writing the ticket, he could have stopped five other cars for speeding. $30 x 5 = $150.
Why would he spend time writing the ticket?
@clonic – interesting take… u think the same would apply for Singaporeans?
Pay the 10%, and then go to the police HQ to lodge a complain against the officer. Of cos, be a good citizen and pay the $300!
Corruption shouldn’t be our way of life.
I used to have a set of cameras mounted in my previous car. One at the rear just above the 3rd brake light, the other mounted just underneath the rear mirror. I merely told him the cams are linked to my pc in Singapore via my satellite phone (I used to be in maritime so having a satellite phone with us is very normal).
He didn’t say anymore, turned, got on his bike and sped away. Haha! But the cam ain’t linked honestly.. hahahaha! Only to the recorder mounted in the boot.
btw, this is what we always do:
when driving (esp late at nite when most vulnerable to dodgy policemen’s funny businesses), we would just keep at $10 in our wallets, and the rest of the money in a jeans pocket, or somewhere else.
that way, we can show the greedy fat policemen that we only have $10 – they either take it or they dont…
Wah this incywincy very naughty yor!
@Kev – nice idea but quite troublesome right? have you tried it before? coz you will realise in time that those guys at the HQ are either in cahoots or they dun really care? More stories on that next time.
@Ed – lol!!!.So elaborate ah… not scared ppl break into your car just to steal your cameras ah?
@incywincy – typical N.S. road user… haha..
@clonic – Ed’s approach sounds just as naughty to me.
Thanks for all the comments everyone!
highway, why would it be different for singaporeans? they are still counting the money when they write out your summons. furthermore, perhaps there’s more paperwork in summoning a singaporean lol!
nah, they fulfil their quota of summons elsewhere, not during a lucrative operation.
trust me, every one who have offered to accept the summons have gotten away scot-free.
Ed is a cutie-pie. lol! He can get into a lot of trouble if the policeman asks him to step out of the car.
@Kev – If you do that you are bribing the officer, isn’t that against the law?
wat can we do? pay 10% lor.. 1 person standing out dun make a difference. go thru all the trouble 4 nothing…
@komirad – u got a point …
@clonic – I’ve paid many official fines b4 also… got receipts somemore.
@FYI – Everyone makes a choice 🙂
@ komirad – LOL.. i tot of that too.. but u need evidence isn’t it? Else it will jus be ur word against his. Probably mark the cash before hand??! Don’t think the police will charge u, since u are willing to pay the $300 and helping them nap corruption cops! Then again I might be wrong…
im not naughty!! im jus… gd at protecting my money! haha
@kev – k tat sounds like a more workable plan.. but seriously dun think those @ HQ will help u
@incywincy – yeah I know many who do tat to good effect
incywincy – is naughty because you actually plan ahead to break the law! Sooooo naughty!
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