Zambian Policemen

My husband, who has had very few tickets in the USA, got TONS in Zambia, so I feel that I am quite knowledgeable in sharing the facts of how ticketing in Zambia works!

First of all, the policemen (or women) stand on the side of the road (which have NO shoulders--I wouldn't want their job!) with a radar gun sitting on a tripod thing. They clock you, and if you are speeding, they then step out INTO the road waving a flag of sorts. They then hope that you see them and are kind enough to pull over. (They don't have police cars, so if you happen to speed through, they can't do anything about it.) When you pull over they inform you of your speed where you usually ask to see the radar gun (trust no one!). They never asked for our driver's license, they just tell you how much you owe. 67,500 kwacha if I remember correctly, which was about $13. You pay the fee right then and are free to go. Here are a few of our interesting ticket experiences:

1) Once Blu got stopped for speeding and he didn't have any money with him--it was about 2 miles away at our mission. We jokingly told the female cop she could have the pizza sitting on my lap that we were taking to the mission. She left to go talk to the other officer and came back and said that she would take the pizza plus $5. We laughed at the corruption and refused to give her the bribe. So they took Blu's driver's license and held it until we could go get money to pay for the ticket!

2) Another time they pulled Blu over and said they were doing a new system where you go to the headquarters in the capital city to pay. THey gave us a sheet of paper as our ticket. Nowhere did they keep a carbon copy or write down our information. Blu asked, "What if I don't go pay this ticket? How will you know? What will you do?" The officer thought for a minute and said, "Well, then we will just say you did not pay it..." Ok...

3) Yet another time Blu was stopped by an actual motorcycle cop. This time we honestly were doing nothing wrong. He claimed that we had passed someone on the railroad tracks and were driving recklessly around a curve. We assured him that we had not passed anyone and he claimed there were witnesses. We felt that we were being targeted for being "rich", so we actually pursued this and went down to the station where Blu gave his side of the story. They let us go after deciding it must have been another vehicle that was reported...

4) Yes, another ticket. This time we were driving to the capital city to have our brake lights fixed. There are police checks throughout Zambia (especially around Christmas due to bonuses) where they hope to catch trucks that have no brake lights, expired registration, etc. Though it's a pain, it's a good thing because the trucks in Zambia are so dangerous and nowhere near meeting vehicle standards of the US). Anyway, at one of these police checks, the policeman noticed our brake lights were out and made us pull over. He came over and told us he was going to have to impound our vehicle. We started to panic and asked him what that meant. He looked real confused and said "I have just impounded it..I made you pull over and you are now impounded. Now pay the fee and you can go." :)

5) The last one....Blu was stopped for speeding but the policeman told him to go back into town to the police station to pay his ticket. So he turned around and got to the station and couldn't find anyone. Finally someone told him they were having a meeting and he could just leave. He tried to leave town amd told the policeman what they said at the station. The policeman was furious and said "No! You go back and tell them that I said you had to pay your ticket!" So Blu goes back, where they proceed to tell him they are in an important meeting and he can just come back by on his way back through in a few days and pay it then... He goes back to tell the officer this, who is furious still, but who has no choice but to let Blu go... :)