A different perspective
Discussion
I (now) live in Accra, Ghana. It's a bit different from Northamptonshire. Rather than a TVR I now drive a Nissan Patrol.
Anyway - on a recent drive between Accra and Takoradi (port town along the coast) I happened to spot a local bobby pointing a bloody speed camera at me.
I have absolutely no idea what the speed limit is here, or indeed if there is one. Rather - your speed is governed by the state of the road / weather / number of goats crossing etc.
Anyway - said chap pulls me over. It appears that I was driving at 84kph in what I was told was a 50kph limit. I considered asking about training, calibration etc. etc. and then remembered where I was. Such questions would clearly have been silly.
Amid much excitement (big car, white man) the bobby asked me what police 'at home' would do to me under such circumstances. I assured him that the police in my own fair country would look on this favourably as a first offence and wave me on my way with a gentle warning. I can see that my thinly veiled lie will not wash and he mentions that a 'fine or ticket' would surely be more likely. He then mumbles something about 'long hours / hot / unpleasant job / gift'.
A suitable 'donation' is made to the policeman (around £3) and I am happily waved on my way. Interaction with the police is generally much more pleasant here (unless of course you want something like a murder solved).
When I rendevouz with my driver in Takoradi he laughs, informs me that the Ghana Constabulary possess a grand total of two radar detectors, and both are are of suspicious accuracy (he even asked me if I was spotted doing 84kph?!)
Apparently they also have a quantity of old fashioned green breathalyser bags, which they have found a way of recycling. That should be fun.
Anyway - on a recent drive between Accra and Takoradi (port town along the coast) I happened to spot a local bobby pointing a bloody speed camera at me.
I have absolutely no idea what the speed limit is here, or indeed if there is one. Rather - your speed is governed by the state of the road / weather / number of goats crossing etc.
Anyway - said chap pulls me over. It appears that I was driving at 84kph in what I was told was a 50kph limit. I considered asking about training, calibration etc. etc. and then remembered where I was. Such questions would clearly have been silly.
Amid much excitement (big car, white man) the bobby asked me what police 'at home' would do to me under such circumstances. I assured him that the police in my own fair country would look on this favourably as a first offence and wave me on my way with a gentle warning. I can see that my thinly veiled lie will not wash and he mentions that a 'fine or ticket' would surely be more likely. He then mumbles something about 'long hours / hot / unpleasant job / gift'.
A suitable 'donation' is made to the policeman (around £3) and I am happily waved on my way. Interaction with the police is generally much more pleasant here (unless of course you want something like a murder solved).
When I rendevouz with my driver in Takoradi he laughs, informs me that the Ghana Constabulary possess a grand total of two radar detectors, and both are are of suspicious accuracy (he even asked me if I was spotted doing 84kph?!)
Apparently they also have a quantity of old fashioned green breathalyser bags, which they have found a way of recycling. That should be fun.
dragstar said:
nice story. now what are you doing in GHANA???
motorshow?
relative?
business?
lovechild??
Business. There is a love-child here, but he lives with me and my wife.
I should stress at this point that my intention is to print that sentence above and give it to my wife. I have offended her lately. We were at a dinner the other night discussing a tribe in Niger where it is apparently normal for them to 'propose' by stealing someone elses wife. I enquired if it was possible to have your wife stolen. She has not spoken to me since.
The tribe in question by the way was the 'Toureg'. Isn't that a crappy people carrier thing?
Had a similar experience in Kenya driving up from Mombasa to Nairobi. Local BiB claimed to have radared me from a ridiculous distance and I'm fairly sure I wasn't even speeding. No point in having that argument deep in the bundu. It was fairly clear from the outset that the objective was to secure a 'donation' to the charity closest to the policeman's heart ie himself.
beljames said:
nice story. now what are you doing in GHANA???
motorshow?
relative?
business?
lovechild??
Business. There is a love-child here, but he lives with me and my wife.
I should stress at this point that my intention is to print that sentence above and give it to my wife. I have offended her lately. We were at a dinner the other night discussing a tribe in Niger where it is apparently normal for them to 'propose' by stealing someone elses wife. I enquired if it was possible to have your wife stolen. She has not spoken to me since.
The tribe in question by the way was the 'Toureg'. Isn't that a crappy people carrier thing?
I used to work for a famous brewery during one of my long summer vacations...
We were checking a landrover dicovery as it went out and we found about 6 large boxes or key rings and brewery freebies in the boot... enough to fill the entire boot space... and there was a dispatch docket clearly labled 'bribes' for all the police and officials in the west african states they were visiting...
I pointed out... we have exactly the same corrupt system here exsept it is completly hidden and often labled corperate hospitality...
We were checking a landrover dicovery as it went out and we found about 6 large boxes or key rings and brewery freebies in the boot... enough to fill the entire boot space... and there was a dispatch docket clearly labled 'bribes' for all the police and officials in the west african states they were visiting...
I pointed out... we have exactly the same corrupt system here exsept it is completly hidden and often labled corperate hospitality...
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