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The Macau Business team
a dark glass farce
a responsible citizen who respects the i was expecting to be issued with a fixed penalty
law and its application, i recently came and be on my way, but this is where things took an
face-to-face with it in Macau, for the first unusual twist.
time in my 14 years in the city - and it i was ordered to follow the motorcycle traffic
was a bizarre encounter indeed. officer to the Vehicle inspection Department to
it wasn’t my first brush with road traffic check if the glass was indeed illegal ( this had
regulations, i have been slapped with a parking already been established at the stop site by the
ticket before, despite the fact that i had only been officer as he knew the code engraved on the glass
stopped - waiting for my wife who had popped into and i was not challenging his decision !).
the chemist’s shop. Within 15 seconds the ticket anyway, we proceeded to the inspection
was issued. perhaps one solution would be more department and after registering we waited, and
parking spaces. waited and waited as another 20 or 30 other cars
anyway, i have seen general driving standards were processed.
in Macau steadily decline due to more cars, hotel Eventually after a wait of almost two hours,
buses, dual plates and less road and parking an inspector checked the glass and told us it
spaces due to construction. was illegal. Then came the inevitable, and time
i also see many dangerous examples of driving. consuming paperwork between the inspector and
people on their mobile phones even though the the officer before we were told we could go.
practice was - quite rightly - made illegal a couple However, in order to get our Vehicle Card back
of years ago. as it stands, i invested in a hands we were told we should pay the fine on the spot, by
free system but this seems to have been a waste doing this we would also get a discount.
of money because as far as i can see the law is after a visit to the bank - the fine was less than
not being strictly enforced. it would be interesting MOp2,000 - we paid up.
to know how many people have actually been The fun wasn’t finished there, because the car
prosecuted. park had a height restriction of 185cm so i couldn’t
Other peculiar, not to mention bad examples of park there, so i dropped my wife off to go in to
driving practices include, old motorbikes balancing process matters. i tried to sit and wait in the road
planks of wood precariously, large buckets of water leading to the department but was moved on, so
holding fish, scooter riders with plastic bowls on had to go round and round outside. While doing so
their heads disguised as helmets, or quite often the i noticed several drivers on their mobile phones and
use of bicycle helmets while on a motorbike. and crazy scooter riders driving dangerously.
of course, last but not least, the scooter riders with Finally, after going round in circles for 30
their dogs by their feet – how safe is that!!! minutes, my wife said she was giving up because
roundabout etiquette is also routinely ignored there was a queue of 20 people in front of her and
causing problems for all drivers - especially as the only 2 had been seen to. painfull as it was, we left.
number of cars on Macau’s roads has sky-rocketed She eventually went back at 5.30pm and waited for
in recent years. another hour to pay.
anyway, back to my bizzare brush with the law. What a process..! Totally unbelievable !
i was stopped and accused of having glass that The lesson is, don’t worry if you drive while on
was too dark in my side and rear windscreens. OK, the mobile phone, take fish to the market or your
fair enough, there could be a visibility issue here. dog on your motorbike. Whatever you do, don’t have
i will for now put to one side the hundreds of cars dark glass in your car as it seems to be a grave and
which move around our city with more Hello Kitty dangerous traffic offence resulting in a gross waste
dolls and cuddly toys danglig from their interiors of time and resources for all concerned.
than a kindergarten. W.M.
april 2009
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