Driving where you don't speak the native language

[kphoger]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet is the fun of being stopped by the police or at a checkpoint when you don't speak the language.  I speak Spanish and, on our mission trips to México, we always make sure to have a Spanish-speaking person in the other vehicle too.  But has anyone had experience with this?

[cpzilliacus]

"getting pulled over" is something that doesn't exist in Europe to an extent as it does in the U.S. The bulk of the fines are collected by speed cameras, rather than by police patrols.

I've seen plenty of police traffic stops in Finland and Sweden, though they have never stopped me.

The most-memorable one was about 10 or 12 years ago on Finland's E18/National Highway 1 motorway, where four or five police cars had a group of Harley-Davidson motorcycles stopped, the officers out of the cars with weapons drawn and the riders making intimate face-down contact with the pavement on the shoulder. 

Turned out that the Nordic chapters of Hell's Angels wanted to have some sort of summer "convention" in Finland, but  the Finnish authorities were decidedly unwelcoming, and many of the Hell's Angels were escorted back to the ferryboat terminals from which they came and sent back to Sweden, Germany or Estonia.

[1995hoo]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet is the fun of being stopped by the police or at a checkpoint when you don't speak the language.  I speak Spanish and, on our mission trips to México, we always make sure to have a Spanish-speaking person in the other vehicle too.  But has anyone had experience with this?

Depending on the country and on whether you did anything illegal, it can help to, uh, "tip" the cop.

[cpzilliacus]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet is the fun of being stopped by the police or at a checkpoint when you don't speak the language.  I speak Spanish and, on our mission trips to México, we always make sure to have a Spanish-speaking person in the other vehicle too.  But has anyone had experience with this?

Depending on the country and on whether you did anything illegal, it can help to, uh, "tip" the cop.

In Finland, that will result in immediate arrest. 

I understand that a few Russian motorists have made the mistake of thinking that a cash "gift" to a uniformed law enforcement officer (on the Finnish side of the border) is a good idea.

It's not, and upon conviction, bribery of a public official can lead to a prison sentence of up to two years.

[kphoger]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet is the fun of being stopped by the police or at a checkpoint when you don't speak the language.  I speak Spanish and, on our mission trips to México, we always make sure to have a Spanish-speaking person in the other vehicle too.  But has anyone had experience with this?

Depending on the country and on whether you did anything illegal, it can help to, uh, "tip" the cop.

That may or may not be true, depending on the culture.  Last year was the first time I've ever bribed a police officer; I was, in fact, speeding, but didn't want to waste time by taking my ticket clear into an unfamiliar city to pay it there.  Upon telling my story to the border official on my way back out of the country a week later, he asked if I'd gotten the officer's name.  First, I was the one who'd asked if it was possible to pay the officer directly (not the officer); secondly, I tend to get tunnel vision in a stressful situation.  I assume the official asked the question because he would have reported the officer.  But that's as may be.

More to the point, I imagine the situation would have been more difficult if I hadn't spoken Spanish.  There was a lot of hemming and hawing back and forth before we reached the point of actually handing cash through the driver's window.  I imagine that (at least with most officers) just pushing a wad of cash out without any conversation to lead up to the act would likely not be well received.

Again, has anyone experienced a police stop or checkpoint without the ability to communicate verbally?

[1995hoo]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned yet is the fun of being stopped by the police or at a checkpoint when you don't speak the language.  I speak Spanish and, on our mission trips to México, we always make sure to have a Spanish-speaking person in the other vehicle too.  But has anyone had experience with this?

Depending on the country and on whether you did anything illegal, it can help to, uh, "tip" the cop.

In Finland, that will result in immediate arrest. 

I understand that a few Russian motorists have made the mistake of thinking that a cash "gift" to a uniformed law enforcement officer (on the Finnish side of the border) is a good idea.

It's not, and upon conviction, bribery of a public official can lead to a prison sentence of up to two years.

Yes, you will notice I was very careful to hedge my comment to say "[d]epending on the country and on whether you did anything illegal."

[J N Winkler]

Again, has anyone experienced a police stop or checkpoint without the ability to communicate verbally?

This is how I routinely experience police stops and checkpoints.  I am deaf, with > 90% hearing loss in both ears.  (I don't read lips unless I have the context.  Deaf people who can claim to lipread reliably are generally leveraging a significant amount of residual hearing, whether they admit it or not.)  Verbal communication simply doesn't happen.

In the US deaf people used to count on being able to avoid speeding tickets by indicating that they could not hear.  This was because it was usually more trouble for the cop to write out whatever needed to be said verbally as the ticket was issued, and also because deaf drivers have a reputation for (slightly) better crash and insurance claims experience compared to hearing drivers.  However, in the last decade or so that has changed, partly because hearing and deaf drivers were abusing the system by either feigning deafness or ostentatiously displaying it in hopes of avoiding tickets.  In Kansas, if you are a deaf driver over age 21, your driver's license photograph will be taken against a white background, not red (under 21) or blue (over 21), and this tells the officer that you are deaf as soon as you hand over your license.  Further communication then typically takes place by pen and paper.  (I can attest to white-background photographs for deaf drivers only in Kansas, but I suspect the convention applies nationally.  Some states, like New Jersey, grant deaf drivers a different type of driver's license which has exactly the same entitlements as the driver's license that "ordinary" hearing drivers get, so that they cannot be successfully sued for substantive discrimination, but which nevertheless singles deaf drivers out and sends them the message that they are on sufferance.)

It is not just police officers on traffic duty who seem to have received training on dealing with deaf drivers with pen and paper.  I had to communicate with Border Patrol officers by pen and paper a few years ago when I pulled up to the SR 83 checkpoint near Sonoita, was given what appeared to be a signal to proceed on my way, and was then suspected of attempting to evade inspection.

[Scott5114]

In Kansas, if you are a deaf driver over age 21, your driver's license photograph will be taken against a white background, not red (under 21) or blue (over 21), and this tells the officer that you are deaf as soon as you hand over your license.  Further communication then typically takes place by pen and paper.  (I can attest to white-background photographs for deaf drivers only in Kansas, but I suspect the convention applies nationally.  Some states, like New Jersey, grant deaf drivers a different type of driver's license which has exactly the same entitlements as the driver's license that "ordinary" hearing drivers get, so that they cannot be successfully sued for substantive discrimination, but which nevertheless singles deaf drivers out and sends them the message that they are on sufferance.)

How is this achieved at the DMV? Are there three backdrops and you are told to stand in front of the appropriate one? In Oklahoma, all photos are taken with a blue background–each tag agency has a single blue backdrop which you sit or stand in front of (I assume the backdrop is a standard piece of equipment issued to tag agencies from Oklahoma DPS). Under 21s are identified by having the license printed in portrait orientation rather than landscape (many states do this, including Texas, Michigan, and Utah to name three), and deaf drivers are identified with an additional symbol done in white on a blue square that depicts a stylized ear with a slash through it.

[cpzilliacus]

Again, has anyone experienced a police stop or checkpoint without the ability to communicate verbally?

This is how I routinely experience police stops and checkpoints.  I am deaf, with > 90% hearing loss in both ears.  (I don't read lips unless I have the context.  Deaf people who can claim to lipread reliably are generally leveraging a significant amount of residual hearing, whether they admit it or not.)  Verbal communication simply doesn't happen.

I have a friend (who incidentally works for the USDOT) who is deaf but reads my lips well (and yes, I think he has some residual hearing, though I have not and will not ask him about that).

In the US deaf people used to count on being able to avoid speeding tickets by indicating that they could not hear.  This was because it was usually more trouble for the cop to write out whatever needed to be said verbally as the ticket was issued, and also because deaf drivers have a reputation for (slightly) better crash and insurance claims experience compared to hearing drivers.  However, in the last decade or so that has changed, partly because hearing and deaf drivers were abusing the system by either feigning deafness or ostentatiously displaying it in hopes of avoiding tickets.  In Kansas, if you are a deaf driver over age 21, your driver's license photograph will be taken against a white background, not red (under 21) or blue (over 21), and this tells the officer that you are deaf as soon as you hand over your license.  Further communication then typically takes place by pen and paper.  (I can attest to white-background photographs for deaf drivers only in Kansas, but I suspect the convention applies nationally.  Some states, like New Jersey, grant deaf drivers a different type of driver's license which has exactly the same entitlements as the driver's license that "ordinary" hearing drivers get, so that they cannot be successfully sued for substantive discrimination, but which nevertheless singles deaf drivers out and sends them the message that they are on sufferance.)

Rather like the Hispanic driver who tells a police officer (in the U.S.) No hablo Inglés, which the results in the officer getting on his radio and asking for a Spanish speaking officer to assist, and invariably the driver then gets a ticket.  At truck weigh stations, if a truck gets stopped for overweight or a safety inspection, any driver who says he does not speak English gets a ticket for that, since at least some basic mastery of English is required to drive a commercial vehicle (especially scary are the Chinatown buses with drivers who do not speak English - I don't know what state they got a CDL in).

It is not just police officers on traffic duty who seem to have received training on dealing with deaf drivers with pen and paper.  I had to communicate with Border Patrol officers by pen and paper a few years ago when I pulled up to the SR 83 checkpoint near Sonoita, was given what appeared to be a signal to proceed on my way, and was then suspected of attempting to evade inspection.

I see a lot of people with limited hearing around my office (in Northeast Washington, D.C.) because we are not that far from the campus of Gallaudet University, a school of higher learning for the deaf, located on Florida Avenue, N.E.

Interestingly, the two fast food joints reasonably near the campus (a Burger King and a Wendy's) seem to make some effort to have an employee (usually a management type) that knows at least a little sign language behind the counter (and the customers speaking in sign obviously know who that person is).

[J N Winkler]

How is this achieved at the DMV? Are there three backdrops and you are told to stand in front of the appropriate one? In Oklahoma, all photos are taken with a blue background–each tag agency has a single blue backdrop which you sit or stand in front of (I assume the backdrop is a standard piece of equipment issued to tag agencies from Oklahoma DPS). Under 21s are identified by having the license printed in portrait orientation rather than landscape (many states do this, including Texas, Michigan, and Utah to name three), and deaf drivers are identified with an additional symbol done in white on a blue square that depicts a stylized ear with a slash through it.

In Kansas the DMV is under the state Department of Revenue and the driver licensing offices are run by the state, although county treasurers' offices are allowed to handle some simple licensing tasks such as issuance of uncomplicated license renewals.  I have only ever renewed my license at the state-run offices, where the backgrounds are all mounted on a flipchart.  The clerk who handles the renewal process chooses the appropriate background after studying your license details and renewal card (you are sent a postcard indicating you must renew your license, which usually arrives two months before it expires).  I have noticed that the staff rushes to flip to the white background as soon as they say something to me and I have to point to my ears and ask to have it written down because I don't understand it.  I have often wondered what would happen if I made more effort to pretend I could hear, but I don't rate my chances of getting a blue background very highly because the existing license with the white background is invariably in front of them.  Deaf drivers are not otherwise distinguished on Kansas driver's licenses--nothing like the crossed-out ear symbol you describe is used here.  Restrictions on license validity (e.g., "CORRECTIVE LENSES"--which I have to wear when driving since I am nearsighted) are noted in red type.

Kansas does the portrait-format licenses too, though before I read your post, it hadn't occurred to me that these might be for under-21s specifically.  I have always had a landscape-format license.  My first license was granted when I was 17 1/2, and the portrait was taken against a red background.  Since license validity is keyed to your birthday in Kansas and the state was at that time issuing four-year licenses, my next license photo was taken against a blue background with "NOT 21 UNTIL [date of my 21st birthday]" in yellow on red against the bottom of the photo.  (I had gone to the DMV before the last license expired in order to maintain continuous licensure.)  I believe it was either at the next renewal cycle or the one immediately following when my photo began to be taken against white backgrounds.

I last renewed my license in December 2011 (I have a January birthday).  My new license has six-year validity.  My parents, who are both over 65, had to renew their own licenses as well, and in both cases were given new licenses with just four-year validity.  They complain of age discrimination, but I am not completely sure the shorter validity results from their age.  I know my father has received one ticket for a moving violation in the last two renewal cycles, and I suspect my mother has as well, while my last ticket (speeding in my case) was in 1995.

It used to be that your new driver's license was issued to you as you left the driver licensing office.  That has not been the case for at least the last two renewal cycles.  Instead, you are given a receipt consisting of your portrait and a number printed on thermal paper which you must carry with you and present as your license if you have left things too long and must drive without a valid plastic card license before the new one comes in the mail from Topeka.

I received my first driver's license from a state-run office in Pawnee Plaza (at the intersection of Pawnee and Broadway) which was closed several years later in state cutbacks.  I have received every subsequent license except the current one from the Twin Lakes office (in a shopping center at 21st and Amidon which is now so decrepit that the licensing bureau is effectively an anchor store).  Twin Lakes is now the only licensing office left in Wichita, which has 350,000 people, so it is mobbed even when it is not having IT problems, which are now the norm owing to recent and badly planned upgrades.  The last time I went to renew my license, I drove clear across town to Andover, a Butler County suburb of Wichita, and felt lucky to escape with just a 30-minute wait.

Recently, and possibly in response to a spate of Eagle stories about people who show up early at Twin Lakes, wait for four hours, and then are told the office is closing for the day because the computer system has gone down, the DMV has introduced a booking system which allows you to take a number (not sure whether it is online or if you actually have to show up in person), and then leave the premises until about fifteen minutes before your number is called, at which point you receive a message by SMS indicating your turn is almost up.  I am not aware that the situation has improved in terms of system downtime, however.  This is just the way things work now in Brownbackistan.

[J N Winkler]

Rather like the Hispanic driver who tells a police officer (in the U.S.) No hablo inglés, which the results in the officer getting on his radio and asking for a Spanish speaking officer to assist, and invariably the driver then gets a ticket.

If you mean to imply that the Spanish-speaking driver would have been less likely to get a ticket if he had pretended to speak English, then it does not work that way for deaf drivers.  In my personal experience, whether a police officer has to get out writing materials or resort to pointing and gesturing does not generally have a bearing on whether I get a ticket or not.  The one time I got a ticket, I had been clocked at 66 in a 55 in a workzone.  This was a couple of years into the workzone fines-doubling policy, so I think the Kansas Highway Patrol trooper had already decided to issue the ticket before he got out of his cruiser.

My personal policy, when dealing with officials who have the powers of detention and arrest, is to avoid doing anything which might generate misunderstandings that redound to my disadvantage.  If the officer doesn't want to write stuff down but I can tell that he is minded to let me go, I will play along with that, but if there is a hint the situation is developing in a sticky direction, I will ask to have things written down.

[1995hoo]

Out of curiosity, how do you alert the officer to your being deaf in the first instance? Do you keep a piece of paper in the car that says that you are deaf and then hold it up when the officer comes to your vehicle? I'm just curious. The one hearing-impaired person I know well (guy who lives across the street from my parents, he was in my high school class and inherited the house when his father died) lip-reads and is able to speak, though he can be hard to understand. I don't want to ask him about it, though, because I know he has a long string of traffic tickets and some other legal issues and so if I asked him about it I feel like I might come across as saying, "Hey, I know you get in trouble with the cops all the time...."

I understand that if you get pulled over in Kansas the special license would tell the cop you can't hear, but my question is how you deal with it when you go to other states (although one would hope you wouldn't know whether it's an issue, of course!).

[J N Winkler]

Out of curiosity, how do you alert the officer to your being deaf in the first instance? Do you keep a piece of paper in the car that says that you are deaf and then hold it up when the officer comes to your vehicle? I'm just curious. The one hearing-impaired person I know well (guy who lives across the street from my parents, he was in my high school class and inherited the house when his father died) lip-reads and is able to speak, though he can be hard to understand. I don't want to ask him about it, though, because I know he has a long string of traffic tickets and some other legal issues and so if I asked him about it I feel like I might come across as saying, "Hey, I know you get in trouble with the cops all the time...."

Usually I look at the officer when he starts saying stuff, and then point at one ear with my index finger, look kind of confused, and shake my head.  This usually (not always) results in the officer pointing at his lips and asking if I can read lips.  I then shake my head again, make a writing gesture, and say, "Could you . . .?"

This usually happens after I hand over my driver's license.  My personal policy is to get my driver's license out as soon as I bring the car to a stop, but not to get out the registration or the proof of insurance unless it is asked for.  The reason I don't volunteer the latter is that I want the police officer to observe how I go about getting them out of the glove box.  If the police officer sees me reaching into the glove box as soon as he pulls behind me in his cruiser, and I am then staring right at him as he walks up to the driver's window, he has no way of knowing whether the thing I extracted from the glove box was paperwork or a firearm.  That amps up the tension because police officers are trained to expect anyone that is looking right at them to be preparing to shoot them with a concealed weapon.  On the other hand, if I don't have the car paperwork handy and the police officer sees me turn away from him to riffle among the maps and whatnot in the glove box, then that makes me look slightly clueless but basically good-natured, which is exactly how I want to look at a traffic stop.

I have heard of other deaf people who carry laminated cards which say, basically, "I am deaf" and then something like "This is how you communicate with me" or "Don't attempt casual conversation," but I really, really dislike this approach.  Under the best possible circumstances it is impersonal; usually it comes across as brusque, unfriendly, and offputting.  I don't personally know any deaf people who follow this approach and I suspect it is favored only among those who have chosen to immerse themselves in a culturally deaf environment--something which is nearly as foreign to me as it would be to you because I was mainstreamed in public schools and use signed English rather than straight ASL.

I understand that if you get pulled over in Kansas the special license would tell the cop you can't hear, but my question is how you deal with it when you go to other states (although one would hope you wouldn't know whether it's an issue, of course!).

I cannot remember having been pulled over in any other US state.  However, I have been pulled over in a couple of foreign countries--once in Ireland, and once in Mexico.  In both cases I followed essentially the same routine as on traffic stops in Kansas.  In Ireland it was a British vehicle keeper's certificate and a "green card" (proof of insurance coverage outside Britain, given by British insurers for intra-EU foreign travel) which I got out of the glove box.  In Mexico I did the writing-in-air thing, but did not bother to say "Could you . . ." because English was not the dominant language.  In both cases the traffic stop was very short and I escaped without being cited.

I should also say that the chronological distribution of my traffic stops is very one-sided.  I have been driving for 20 years, and all of my traffic stops occurred within 10 years of first licensure.  With the exception of three (the one in Ireland, the one in Mexico, and a later occasion when I was pulled over for 70 in a two-lane 65 on US 83 in western Kansas), they all also occurred within five years of first licensure and also at a time when I was averaging about 30,000 miles annually.  My last 10,000-mile roadtrip (accomplished without a single traffic stop) was in 2003, and since then I have barely broken 5,000 driving miles a year.

With the exception of Mexico (illegal turn on red after stop) and Ireland (illegal overtake of a slow-moving farm vehicle--a maneuver which in context would have been legal in Britain but apparently wasn't in Ireland), all of my stops have been for speeding.  Only one of those stops, and the one where I was actually ticketed, was for speeding in a workzone.

[agentsteel53]

I note you haven't gotten pulled over (for speeding or whatnot) in the last 10 years, but have you had police come up to you while you were stopped for some roadgeek activity? 

I get police inquiring into what I'm doing about 5-10 times a year.  it's more frequent if it's night, if I'm parked on a busy road and looks like I might be in distress, or if I seem unusally (possibly larcenously) focused on a road sign.

most of the time, a simple "just taking photos" is enough, but every so often they ask for ID and find an excuse to make small talk.

has that ever happened to anyone else?

[J N Winkler]

I note you haven't gotten pulled over (for speeding or whatnot) in the last 10 years, but have you had police come up to you while you were stopped for some roadgeek activity?

Yes, I have, many times, partly because I like to stop on the shoulder for out-of-the-car sign shots.  (I am much less willing to do this on freeways than I was when I was younger.)  In 2003 I was taking pictures of fresh signs near the southern approach of the Astoria-Megler Bridge when an Astoria police officer pulled up, asked me for ID, and asked what I was doing.  I explained that I was interested in the signs since I had obtained a copy of the construction plans for them.  I also said I disagreed with the guide signing at the intersection in front of us because the designer had used one single downward-pointing arrow for multiple lanes to indicate destinations in the forward direction, when he would have been better off using an upward-pointing arrow despite the sign being mounted overhead.  This was too technical for the officer and he got away from me as fast as he could.

I get police inquiring into what I'm doing about 3-4 times a year.  it's more correlated if it's night, if I'm parked on a busy road and looks like I might be in distress, or if I seem unusually (possibly larcenously) focused on a road sign.

Yes, I have also noticed that those factors tend to enhance police interest.  Partly for this reason, I am now more picky about where I stop and usually try to access suitable vantage points on foot after I leave my car in a parking lot, or on reasonably level hardpack off the shoulder if formal parking is not available.  My car was sitting in a parking lot somewhere off Marine Drive when I was answering the Astoria cop's questions.

Thinking about it from the police officer's point of view, I think it is more likely that an officer will stop for a car parked on the shoulder of a freeway--even if the car and its driver are in no obvious mechanical distress--for two reasons.  First, if the car is later involved in an accident, it is easier for the officer to explain to his patrol supervisor that he stopped and tried to do something, rather than admit that he simply cruised by a distress situation in the making.  Second, as cars become safer and the fatality rate (expressed as deaths per passenger-kilometer) on freeways continues to drop, the sole parameter that stubbornly resists improvement is deaths of people who are on or near the freeway but not in a car.  These people are therefore more and more likely to be seen as a safety problem and to attract law enforcement attention for that reason alone.

[DaBigE]

I note you haven't gotten pulled over (for speeding or whatnot) in the last 10 years, but have you had police come up to you while you were stopped for some roadgeek activity? 
...has that ever happened to anyone else?

Granted, this was still in the US, far from any non-English speaking areas...I had it happen to me a couple weeks ago. On my way back from visiting family, I stopped by a construction site that my company drew up the original plans for. The site also had a newspaper article written about it, complaining that there were too many signs. (FWIW, it did, but we had nothing to do with that portion of the project). I was walking around the construction corridor, along the newly opened multi-use path, safety vest on and camera in hand...next thing I know I had a cop asking me to come over by him. He seemed very surprised I was out on a Sunday, and so far from home (about 1.5 hours away). He was also very concerned that I might have had a grocery store in the background of a few of my photos. (Still not sure about that one, since it was nothing that couldn't have been seen from GSV). He asked for my ID and proceeded to call me in to dispatch. Surprise, surprise, they found no record and everything checked out (much to the officer's disappointment, base on the look on his face). He tried to save a little face by trying to make some "intelligent" small talk (when the work was going to be done, etc.), but that was about it. He never did tell me what I was doing wrong. I chalked it up to it being a slow Sunday afternoon, in a small town with a Barney Fife kind of police department.

[Scott5114]

Usually I look at the officer when he starts saying stuff, and then point at one ear with my index finger, look kind of confused, and shake my head.  This usually (not always) results in the officer pointing at his lips and asking if I can read lips.  I then shake my head again, make a writing gesture, and say, "Could you . . .?"

The one time to date that I have encountered a deaf patron at my job, he used the same gesture. I managed to get his license by way of writing a note, and the information that I needed that was not on that I was able to obtain by pointing at the blanks on my form and allowing him to fill them in himself. We managed to work it out pretty well for not having anything set up to handle the situation ahead of time.

I also said I disagreed with the guide signing at the intersection in front of us because the designer had used one single downward-pointing arrow for multiple lanes to indicate destinations in the forward direction, when he would have been better off using an upward-pointing arrow despite the sign being mounted overhead.  This was too technical for the officer and he got away from me as fast as he could.

Using the general public's tendency to be put off by excessive roadgeekiness to your benefit. I love it.

I note you haven't gotten pulled over (for speeding or whatnot) in the last 10 years, but have you had police come up to you while you were stopped for some roadgeek activity? 
...has that ever happened to anyone else?

Granted, this was still in the US, far from any non-English speaking areas...I had it happen to me a couple weeks ago. On my way back from visiting family, I stopped by a construction site that my company drew up the original plans for. The site also had a newspaper article written about it, complaining that there were too many signs. (FWIW, it did, but we had nothing to do with that portion of the project). I was walking around the construction corridor, along the newly opened multi-use path, safety vest on and camera in hand...next thing I know I had a cop asking me to come over by him.

My approach to this would have probably been to imply that what I was doing was for the company's benefit, without outright saying so. "My company designed these signs... I was in the area so I was getting some pictures..." I have yet to be questioned by police for roadgeek activity, but since I edit Wikipedia, I usually have a spiel prepared about how I am working on the article on X road and having a picture of Y feature would vastly improve it...

[agentsteel53]

I also said I disagreed with the guide signing at the intersection in front of us because the designer had used one single downward-pointing arrow for multiple lanes to indicate destinations in the forward direction, when he would have been better off using an upward-pointing arrow despite the sign being mounted overhead.  This was too technical for the officer and he got away from me as fast as he could.

that is awesome. 

I try to stop on freeways as infrequently as possible.  usually the two-laners have more interesting views in general, in my opinion.  (but some of the overpasses to I-70 in Utah provide some opportunities)



once I was told that I'd have to stop taking photos from an overpass.  Fair enough - there were no sidewalks so I was standing in the vehicle lane.  at night with a tripod.  (and a reflective vest, but still, I understand the public safety perspective.)  other times, I've been permitted to stay in that exact situation.  "well, I'm just gonna run some radar.  y'all stay safe."

I've never had an interaction initiated by police officer outside the US, apart from customs/immigration agents, so I do not know what the culture would be like there. 

[kphoger]

On our most recent México trip, we encountered a police stop in town, and both of our vehicles were flagged down.  I had left my import paperwork back at the house (oops), but that caused no real issues.  The other driver had grown up as a missionary's kid in the Dominican Republic, and spoke some Spanish, but pretended not to during the stop; this was recommended procedure back in the D.R.  To indicate that he wanted to see the driver's license, the officer actually pulled out his own license as an example.  Apparently, the officer also explained that it's illegal to drive a Mexican-plated car without a Mexican license (which I think might be true), but neither one of us was cited for anything.

[agentsteel53]

Apparently, the officer also explained that it's illegal to drive a Mexican-plated car without a Mexican license (which I think might be true), but neither one of us was cited for anything.

there's gotta be an exemption for rental cars.  do those receive special plates, then?

[kphoger]

No.  You're right, I believe it is an exception written into the law.

[Brandon]

Apparently, the officer also explained that it's illegal to drive a Mexican-plated car without a Mexican license (which I think might be true), but neither one of us was cited for anything.

there's gotta be an exemption for rental cars.  do those receive special plates, then?

Beats me.  The one time I rented a car in Mexico (Cozumel), it lacked any sort of license plates.

[1995hoo]

The times I've rented cars in Mexico (also Cozumel and once in Playa del Carmen) they had license plates but they also usually had stickers identifying the rental company (something I didn't like at all, but there wasn't any choice because at the time all the rental places there did this).

[kphoger]

The only time I've rented a car in México was from a small local shop which advertised online that their cars were not marked in any way as rentals.  I had a guy ask once when I was parallel parking in Vallarta if the car was mine or a rental; I just ignored him and walked away.  I've seen pictures of rental plates online, but never in real life.

[1995hoo]

The rental stickers in Cozumel weren't subtle. I dug around and found some pictures. These are from 2002 (the one with me behind the wheel) and 2004.

Of course, that blue car was pretty damn obviously a rental anyway, so who cares in that case. We got that rental for free for putting up with a timeshare presentation and I asked for that car since Mezcalito's was the only place we were going that day anyway. That thing was not particularly easy to drive, a lot heavier than it looks and it had a rear-mounted VW Beetle air-cooled boxer-4.