BajaNomad - Traffic tickets

Traffic tickets

philodog - 2-15-2020 at 08:04 AM

During a correct, legal traffic stop will the police always issue a written citation during the stop? Also, when paying at the station do you pay before a municipal judge and get a receipt?
Asking for a friend who was pulled over in La Ventana for a BS infraction, went to the station and paid the cops themselves at the station.

mojo_norte - 2-15-2020 at 10:02 AM

The cop writes the ticket. The judge asses the fine . If the judge is not around - say Sunday they will collect a bond or hold your license . It's Mexico so all bets are off and everything is usually negotiable. What was the BS offense?

philodog - 2-15-2020 at 02:12 PM

No stop on a dirt road with no ALTO sign.

4x4abc - 2-15-2020 at 03:27 PM

want to improve the community?

Post pictures of the cops

JZ - 2-15-2020 at 05:05 PM

Give them $40 and be on your way. They get us about 1 out of 4 trips.

It's the price of having a blast in Baja.

Lee - 2-15-2020 at 05:39 PM

No justice in Baja with 2 people that went to the station. One, a personal friend, in Ciudad. Ended badly.

Other in Tecate, elderly man with wife, truck, pocket knife, station where judge didn't look like a judge (wasn't a judge), and that ended badly. This story was written up here.

Some believe that justice will be served if they get a ticket and pay it at a station. I'm thinking that's a 50/50 proposition.

mojo_norte - 2-15-2020 at 05:54 PM

Don't think you'll necessarily get a fair shake at the station. You might end up paying more plus wasting a lot of time.

4x4abc - 2-15-2020 at 09:41 PM

the procedure in La Paz is that an official will write you ticket - either in your presence or while you are shopping (parking violation). They will hand you the ticket, or place it under the wiper. To make sure you will pay they will either take your driver license or you car plates. Show up at the earliest date given on the ticket at the municipal office, present ticket, pay fine, get back your license or plate.
Always painless. Always accurate. Penalties are mild.

Any direct payment or station payment would go to the "CocaCola fund" of the officer(s).
Some officers skip the haggling and ask for a CocaCola donation right away. $100 pesos has you on your way in 2 minutes.

I don't know how rural municipalities like Mulege handle it.
Don't know how the Federal Police handles infractions between cities - haven't been caught speeding yet.

John Harper - 2-16-2020 at 06:48 AM

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

To make sure you will pay they will either take your driver license or you car plates.

The cops carry tools and remove license plates?

John

mtgoat666 - 2-16-2020 at 07:05 AM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Give them $40 and be on your way. They get us about 1 out of 4 trips.

You must be a bad driver.

I have been stopped once in 10 years. And I was at fault.
In my experience, cops typically only stop drivers that deserve to be stopped.

weebray - 2-16-2020 at 08:14 AM

John - YES, Goat - NO

baja Steve - 2-16-2020 at 08:33 AM

I have been driving in Baja for 21 years stopped 2 times and never a ticket. Be polite and ask questions

David K - 2-16-2020 at 08:40 AM

Quote: Originally posted by baja Steve

I have been driving in Baja for 21 years stopped 2 times and never a ticket. Be polite and ask questions

Bingo...
I have driven in Baja since 1974, stopped a few times (Tijuana, Ensenada, and Tecate) and never a ticket... but I did once "tip" the officers for a police escort out of the city when I was "illegally" towing a friend whose VW broke down.

BajaBlanca - 2-18-2020 at 04:45 AM

This thread made me giggle remembering the time we drove to La Paz, I believe it was over New Years 3 years ago. After a 10 hour drive, exhausted and about 3 blocks from our destination, a cop pulls us over.

Our older dog Rex, for the first time ever, was not happy in the car so I had moved to the back seat to comfort him and Mom was in the front seat with my husband/driver, Les.

We have anapromex license plates and the sticker/validity had to be renewed but the office was closed due to holiday. We were told in La Bocana that it would not be a problem.

The La Paz cop started talking to Les and hassling him about the missing sticker. I am quiet in the back but not happy. Actually, I was quite grumpy because I wanted our dog out of the car and we were so close to our destination. After lots of blablabla telling Les that he would take the car,, he says something that Les doesn't quite catch the Spanish and he looks at me to translate.

Blanca meltdown begins with me yelling at the top of my lungs. WHAT DO YOU WANT? We don't have the sticker, the office is closed so we can't get it until tomorrow. ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THE CAR? If so, tell me now so we can get out.

I am a teacher and took voice lessons on how to project my voice, and I am Brazilian to top it off, I can be loud. I was loud, very loud that day.

I remember he asked me Is this YOUR car? Nope, I yelled, but IF YOU WANT IT, SAY SO NOW AND TAKE IT NOW.

I see one cop look at the other (this Gringa is loca look and we better let her go before this gets any uglier look). Que tenga buen dia hahaha Have a nice day and he points to the road!

and mind you, we were in the wrong but come on. The sticker was something like 300 pesos, ridiculously inexpensive but the offices were closed for the holidays. Nahhhh, I was not having it! 10+ hours of being in the car plus being very stressed over our perro being stressed sent this woman into a meltdown.

I tell you, it was a sight to see.

Thanks for the giggle!

Marc - 2-18-2020 at 08:54 AM

Quote: Originally posted by John Harper

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

To make sure you will pay they will either take your driver license or you car plates.

The cops carry tools and remove license plates?

John

LaPaz 1979 I see the cops had screw drivers in their gun belts. Took me a while to figure that one out.

gnukid - 2-18-2020 at 10:09 AM

Anyone who exchanges money with a transit or municipal police officer in lieu of an official ticket to be paid by order to the judge Baja is committing a high crime that is punishable by years in jail and is contributing to corruption that hurts everyone. Never ever offer or accept an offer to pay directly, absolutely refuse and always demand to see ID and take a photo of the id and the person and the vehicle, best to record the entire interaction.

The job of a transit officer is to ensure safety, to assist, to protect, never to molest or demand money, they may not enter your vehicle, they must identify themselves with official ID and you are absolutely allowed to take photos and video, they can not demand you go with them without the order of a judge.

Anyone admitting to supporting extortion will be prosecuted to the extent possible and be deported.

[Edited on 2-18-2020 by gnukid]

gnukid - 2-18-2020 at 10:12 AM

Quote: Originally posted by John Harper

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

To make sure you will pay they will either take your driver license or you car plates.

The cops carry tools and remove license plates?

John

They may not remove your license or license plate as that is your property. Although they do this for parking violations. It's something you may object to, never ever hand your license or your plate to a transit officer, even if they demand it, it's just a threat preceding a demand for mordida.

The circulation transit laws vary in each city, though foreigners carry a certain envelop around them that requires them to conform to their laws from where they arrived and do their best to conform to the changing laws for each city. A transit officer has no authority to threaten you or take your property, it's just a threat that has no support. It's best to ignore them or to clearly inform them of the problem with attempts to separate you and your property. Gringos who support extortion hurt everyone.

There are many cases of mordida every day in La Ventana to the point of it being an epidemic, police are arriving from every pueblo to drive the street to ask for money from gringos and it's become a Mecca of Mordida that is an epidemic. Please stop feeding the bears.

[Edited on 2-18-2020 by gnukid]

Nada Gnu

MrBillM - 2-18-2020 at 10:21 AM

It (mordida) is a choice between paying an individual (underpaid) corrupt official or paying into a corrupt government entity for the benefit of those higher up.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE !

Pay, go on your way and get to play without further delay.

gnukid - 2-18-2020 at 10:23 AM

As stated earlier, you can offer to support the officer or contribute to cocacola but you can not pay a fine directly.

RocketJSquirrel - 2-18-2020 at 04:09 PM

6.5 years here, driving every day. Never even stopped. And I am a bit of a sloppy driver. Ran more than a few semi-hidden stop signs. Not sure how people get stopped so regularly. Of course, maybe my time(s) coming...

mtgoat666 - 2-18-2020 at 04:27 PM

Quote: Originally posted by RocketJSquirrel

6.5 years here, driving every day. Never even stopped. And I am a bit of a sloppy driver. Ran more than a few semi-hidden stop signs. Not sure how people get stopped so regularly. Of course, maybe my time(s) coming...

the cops pullover the people that drive poorly, drive with a lead foot, drive like jerks. these people are so bone headed they cannot see they are the problem, they react by blaming the police.

One DOES Wonder .....................

MrBillM - 2-18-2020 at 04:45 PM

Regardless of the Pay to Play debate, I've always been skeptical of all those innocents preyed upon.

In 50 years ('63-'13) of driving in Mexico and (maybe) a couple dozen stops over those five decades, with ONE clear exception, I had committed the offenses. Mostly "speed" and "failure to obey stop signs" with a couple of "towing" violations.

While the line was pretty fine in some cases, I could say the same about some N.O.B. citations.

Speaking of which, more than once over the years, I've found that I was the only guilty person in Traffic school when I attended.

Odd ? Just coincidence, I guess.

JZ - 2-18-2020 at 05:32 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

You must be a bad driver.

I have been stopped once in 10 years. And I was at fault.
In my experience, cops typically only stop drivers that deserve to be stopped.

Yeah, we deserved it. I've only been stopped 3 times personally in about 15 years. It's always one of my MX friends getting stopped when driving my truck.

chippy - 2-18-2020 at 05:42 PM

They definetly profile you down here. It´s all about the US plates. With my Colima plates I´ve (in the last 10 years) never been pulled over for anything. Before that (cal plates) many times.

Alan - 2-18-2020 at 05:54 PM

Quote: Originally posted by chippy

They definetly profile you down here. It´s all about the US plates. With my Colima plates I´ve (in the last 10 years) never been pulled over for anything. Before that (cal plates) many times.

South Dakota plates are as good as local in La Paz :lol:

Suntan - 2-20-2020 at 06:19 PM

We camped at Daggetts campground in BOLA for over ten years. In that ten years over half of the travelers that crossed at Tecate were shook down with phoney cop stops. First time in Mexico they paid the fines to the cops and left with a lousy feeling about Mexico and their security. Most vowed to never come back and would tell their friends the story. Those travelers who refused the intimidation were let go. Bad cops are bad anyplace. Refuse to pay mordita and report the scumbags to the state secretariat of tourism by dialing tourist assistant hotline 078. I vowed never to never drink the their crappy Tecate beer again or cross in their corrupt city.

charliemanson - 2-22-2020 at 06:49 PM

Funny?, we live here and NEVER stop at signs. But we do have BCS plates. Most get pulled over for driving Mexican stupid and actually stopping at stop signs...which is a dead give away for a mordita. Love those cops getting stupid people off the road or keeping them from coming back!

Please just don't pay them and take your ticket the the municipal: Thanks for coming!

Whale-ista - 2-23-2020 at 12:17 PM

Oh my goodness Blanca- you really did that?!
This made me laugh!

Let this be a lesson to all: don't mess with teachers!

Quote: Originally posted by BajaBlanca

This thread made me giggle remembering the time we drove to La Paz, I believe it was over New Years 3 years ago. After a 10 hour drive, exhausted and about 3 blocks from our destination, a cop pulls us over...

I am a teacher and took voice lessons on how to project my voice, and I am Brazilian to top it off, I can be loud. I was loud, very loud that day.

I remember he asked me Is this YOUR car? Nope, I yelled, but IF YOU WANT IT, SAY SO NOW AND TAKE IT NOW.

I see one cop look at the other (this Gringa is loca look and we better let her go before this gets any uglier look). Que tenga buen dia hahaha Have a nice day and he points to the road!

and mind you, we were in the wrong but come on. The sticker was something like 300 pesos, ridiculously inexpensive but the offices were closed for the holidays. Nahhhh, I was not having it! 10+ hours of being in the car plus being very stressed over our perro being stressed sent this woman into a meltdown.

I tell you, it was a sight to see.

Thanks for the giggle!

Never received a ticket in Baja...but

Whale-ista - 2-23-2020 at 12:27 PM

I was a passenger in a car many years ago, and the driver was stopped shortly after we had crossed the border into Tijuana, allegedly for "illegally crossing a lane."

We were trying to get to the toll road, and it's likely she had crossed at the wrong place. (The pre-Chaparral entrance was a lot less driver-friendly)

The car was full of college students, on our way to meet friends for lunch at La Mision. I tried (from the backseat) to translate the reason we had been stopped, and the driver's options. The non-Spanish speaking driver just handed over a $20 and we continued on our way.

It wouldn't have been my first choice, but at lunch she collected $5 from each of the passengers for the "Tijuana toll"- and we agreed it was faster and easier than arguing about it- and we made it to lunch on time.

Marc - 2-25-2020 at 11:11 AM

I have been stopped twice in 40+ years. Both times my fault. Both times pay the cop & on my way. :cool: