For the last six months I have not been stopped once by police when driving. Since last Saturday I have been stopped three times. On Saturday I drove to Chernigiv - one of the oldest cities in Ukraine about 140km from Kiev. I went there with Olimpia, a Romanian colleague who is here for two months. I did not have GPS and with no or very little road signs it took me one hour to find an exit to Chernigiv. Chernigiv is also closest city to Chernobile - but I had no intention of going there. The road to Chernigiv is straight, no potholes and not much traffic. The best road I drove so far in Ukraine. Customary for Ukraine - the highway passes through the villages. There are no signs indicating max speed when entering a village. There are some red stripes on the road before entering a village but I had no idea what they mean. Until I got stopped by the police. A polite policeman informed me I drove 95km/h while 50km/h is max allowed in a village. My defence was "there are no signs". "Of course there are - the red lines on the road". "Ohhh - that's what they are. Where I come from we have round metal signs with numbers." The policeman asked for documents which in my case consists of:- POA from the bank that I am allowed to drive the bank's car;- copy of insurance policy;- technical licence;- driving licence - in my case Croatian international and Croatian original driving licence. He looked at the pile and said he has to check them and started to go towards his car. I had no idea if it's a custom in Ukraine to get out of the car and follow him or to stay in the car. In Russia you get out of your car. I opted to stay in the car as I had to call a colleague and check what's the going rate for over speeding. I decided to walk to a police car once I know the rate. Alexey told me the going rate for overspeeding is between UAH 20-100 which in USD is between USD 5-20. The policemen returned and told me doc's are OK but I breached a speed limit. I asked if UAH 20 is enough. He said yes. I gave UAH 20 note. He returned doc's. It felt great to be in emerging markets.
On Sunday I went to veggies market to buy some of babushkas fresh garden produce. I go there weekly. As usual I parked the car on the more or less same spot. Other cars were parked around. About 30 min later with bags full of fresh tomatoes, yellow peppers, sweet peaches, raspberries, etc walking towards the parking spot - I could not find my car. For a moment I feared the car got stolen. Than I saw a truck on top of which was my "Ravche". Next to the truck was a policeman who told me I parked the car on a wrong spot. Telling him I usually park here and showing him parked cars around did not help. He asked me for documents. I told him they're in the car - which is on the truck. In order to get my car off the truck I should negotiate with guys in the truck. I called Alexey again. Going rate for improper parking is UAH 200-1000 - depending on the car. I offered UAH 150 and after some negotiations we agreed on UAH 250. Once the car reached the asphalt policeman asked me for docs. So I give him all doc's but noticed in my international driving licence there is no original Croatian driving licence. I panicked as I should always have the original licence next to the international. The policeman looked at my international driving licence which is falling apart but still valid and asked me: "So you are US citizen?" "No - I am Dutch citizen". "But this is not Dutch licence?" "No it's Croatian International licence." "And where is the original?" "Well - here!" was my response and I gave him a Korean driving licence I always keep in my wallet. I told him "Look its written here "driving licence"- the only inteilgible text among hangul. The policmean was very cool. He carefully examined both my driving licences - and than I noticed for a first time that they both have the same photo. He shaked his head, said "OK" and than let me to go. I counted my blessings.
Today in the city I have not stopped on cross road as for the last 5 months I know I have a way of right. About 50m from the crossroad a policman stopped me and asked why I have not stopped as I do not have way of right. I argued I have. He told me they changed signs some time ago. The signs hang high above the road. Well I truly have not noticed as I watch the road not skies when I drive. The policman told me he will write a protocol and I will have to go to the court. "No - I would like to pay now. How much I can pay". "The rule is to write a protocol". "Yes I know that but I would like to pay now". "The rule is to write a protocol." "Do you really want to write a protocol?" "That's the rule". "I know that's the rule, but I would like to pay now" "But the rule is to write the protocol"". Obviously I will not win this one. So I said "OK. As you are sure you want to write a protocol and this will take at least one hour - let me call my secretary to cancel my next meeting in the office". I called and started to explain I am tied up with a policman who needs to write a protocol. After I finished my phone call a policeman returned me doc's and told me to go. He also advised me not to brake rules in future and pay attention to signs". I profusely thanked him on such excellent advice but quickly drove away before he starts to charge me for his advices.
On Sunday I went to veggies market to buy some of babushkas fresh garden produce. I go there weekly. As usual I parked the car on the more or less same spot. Other cars were parked around. About 30 min later with bags full of fresh tomatoes, yellow peppers, sweet peaches, raspberries, etc walking towards the parking spot - I could not find my car. For a moment I feared the car got stolen. Than I saw a truck on top of which was my "Ravche". Next to the truck was a policeman who told me I parked the car on a wrong spot. Telling him I usually park here and showing him parked cars around did not help. He asked me for documents. I told him they're in the car - which is on the truck. In order to get my car off the truck I should negotiate with guys in the truck. I called Alexey again. Going rate for improper parking is UAH 200-1000 - depending on the car. I offered UAH 150 and after some negotiations we agreed on UAH 250. Once the car reached the asphalt policeman asked me for docs. So I give him all doc's but noticed in my international driving licence there is no original Croatian driving licence. I panicked as I should always have the original licence next to the international. The policeman looked at my international driving licence which is falling apart but still valid and asked me: "So you are US citizen?" "No - I am Dutch citizen". "But this is not Dutch licence?" "No it's Croatian International licence." "And where is the original?" "Well - here!" was my response and I gave him a Korean driving licence I always keep in my wallet. I told him "Look its written here "driving licence"- the only inteilgible text among hangul. The policmean was very cool. He carefully examined both my driving licences - and than I noticed for a first time that they both have the same photo. He shaked his head, said "OK" and than let me to go. I counted my blessings.
Today in the city I have not stopped on cross road as for the last 5 months I know I have a way of right. About 50m from the crossroad a policman stopped me and asked why I have not stopped as I do not have way of right. I argued I have. He told me they changed signs some time ago. The signs hang high above the road. Well I truly have not noticed as I watch the road not skies when I drive. The policman told me he will write a protocol and I will have to go to the court. "No - I would like to pay now. How much I can pay". "The rule is to write a protocol". "Yes I know that but I would like to pay now". "The rule is to write a protocol." "Do you really want to write a protocol?" "That's the rule". "I know that's the rule, but I would like to pay now" "But the rule is to write the protocol"". Obviously I will not win this one. So I said "OK. As you are sure you want to write a protocol and this will take at least one hour - let me call my secretary to cancel my next meeting in the office". I called and started to explain I am tied up with a policman who needs to write a protocol. After I finished my phone call a policeman returned me doc's and told me to go. He also advised me not to brake rules in future and pay attention to signs". I profusely thanked him on such excellent advice but quickly drove away before he starts to charge me for his advices.
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