Fifteen years ago when I lived in China, I was caught speeding on a four lane road. The road was completely empty, which is uncommon in China.
A police officer, hidden behind a tree played the chicken and jumped in the middle of the road to stop me. I jumped on the brakes, locked the wheels and stopped a meter from the policeman that didn t move an inch.
I had a Chinese worker with me and he translated that I was caught speeding at 84kmh, when the speed limit on every road in China was 70.
I told the officer that I didn t believed they had a radar. The guy said, I should go backward and have a look a kilometer or so away. He didn t ask for my license or any document.
He blocked the traffic on the motorway, I did a U turn crossing the middle bank and drove back. A kilometer away, there was a policeman sitting on a bench with something that looked like an hair dryer.
I stopped, did another U turn on the motorway, drove back to the chicken. I was fined ten RMB, approximately 1 GBP. I asked for a reciept, to prevent corruption, and the policeman kindly wrote a reciept.
Away I went, happy to have been a good citizen, paying my fine for speeding at such a low price.
A week later, on the same motorway, I was driving much faster, probably 130 kmh or so. Once again, the raod was perfectly clear and it was 3PM in summer.
A chicken jumped ahead of me, opened his arms, instructing to stop. I locked the tyres again, thinking I was way too fast to stop. I remember vividely that I expected the policeman to jump sideways and was wondering wether he would jup right or left and was in despair to guess which side he would jump, so that I could steer the car and avoid him.
I pointed in his direction to the last second, tyres smoking, he didn t move
I made a guess, released the brakes, steered the car to the right and did a life elk test.
I didn t hit the policeman, the car didn t roll over..
I stopped the car at least twenty meters from the policeman who, amazingly DIDN T move and was still standing his arms wide open, at exactly the same place...
He then walked to the car, very calm, I opened the window. The guy started to speak Chinese and as I had no interpreter at hand, told him 'je ne comprend pas'.
The guy took his ticket book and a pen, and drew on the cover a circle and wrote 70 in it and showed me the road.
He then drew another circle, crossed it and wrote 84 and pointed his finger to me.
Very smart!
I knew I wasn t driving 84 but more likely 130.
Having paid 1GBP for 14 kilometers in excess I guessed how much 60 kilometers in excess may cost
I picked his ticket book and pen, drew a circle and wrote 130 and pointed me.
The guy in disbelief, indicated me to go without any penalty
So 14 kilometers in excess, 1GBP
60 kilometers in excess, no costs
I was later told that up to 84, drivers are issued a fine, and likely the policeman pockets it and let you go
For anything above, the law says you have to go to Court. Not only the policeman won t see any income, but also he will have to write many papers in pure waste
So, my learning was to be honest with the Police at any time!
