First off, we bet you never knew that the Bucharest police force had its own Facebook page? Well it does, and for what it’s worth, it’s here.
Secondly, we bet you never knew that they had made a mildly amusing 30-second commercial to try and encourage the city’s drivers not to block junctions?
Well, they have:
We don’t expect it to have much of an impact, but here’s hoping. The problem is perhaps the biggest single cause of traffic jams in Bucharest (the enormous volume of traffic and cruddy infrastructure aside, of course).
We might also suggest that instead of spending cash on videos they invest in video cameras, and fine those cretins who do block junctions…
@Davin I think the policing of speeding leaves a lot to be desired, but I’d put much of the blame on the driver mentality. The presence of a police radar in a village is signalled to everyone, so that they can slow down and not get done. However, almost nobody slows down just because you’re driving through a built up area, and you know it’s dangerous and there are children and other people (and animals, and cyclists, and no pavements, and drunk blokes everywhere). People slow down so as not to get caught, not so they don’t cause an accident. At some point this needs to be reversed somehow.
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Thanks Parmalat for the insight!
Peter: yes you said as much when we met. Interesting.
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@Davin: what’s wrong with commandos on the street?
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Of course someone is behind BGS as well as all the other security companies having signed contracts with the state (represented by the Bucharest mayorship in this case).
The idea is: you’re a BGS owner, you are politically connected to PDL, you go to the PDL counselors from the city council and tell them “you give me this contract and I give you this commission (for the party as well as for yourselves)”. They approve and everyone walks away with something in his pockets!
You know, these days if the Financial Police (Garda Financiara) visits your company and sees that you broke some laws, the bribe doesn’t go to them anymore but you have to rather make a donation to PDL if you want to get away
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I remember the 90′s where police was everywhere, and they stopped your car too often to check your papers, giving tickets for not wearing a seatbelt (!) and speedcamera’s almost behind every corner, mostly outside big cities. Especially when you were driving a foreign car with foreign licenceplates, you were like a driving sugarpie whit the bee-cops buzzing around you to check if you had valid insurance papers in case you would hit a Dacia. Now Bucharest and Romania is the Far West, the survival of the fittest on four wheels.
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Wow! In 2009, they finally start practicing normal traffic laws like towing cars, something that has been done in the West, for, oh I don’t know, a 100 years!
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@Davin Your first point is valid and we have touched on it here before: the police rarely seem to give a damn even when they do see drivers breaking the law. Yet the fault still has to with drivers. Not sure if you know but right now there is a campaign to finally start towing away cars illegally parked: the fine to get them back is high, 800-900 lei, depending on the sector. This has provoked much opposition amongst Bucharest’s delightful car owners, who think they should be allowed to park anywhere and everywhere.
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Oh, also, what’s the deal with all the security firms here?! BGS etc. They seem to have more clout than the police sitting on corners with their H3 Hummers and looking like commandos. It’s as if normal police duties have been outsourced to these firms. Another classic example of corruption and shady business dealings. Whomever is behind these firms has cashed in and is running a racket. That is another thing I find exceedingly unpleasant about Bucharest: all the security. In supermarkets, in stores. I went to the new Cotroceni mall and there was a guard like ever 10 meters. It was crazy and I would never shop there simply because of this. Why is there so much security in Bucharest? Is it because Romania is the second poorest country in the EU and all the stores are worried that everyone is going to steal? Really, I’d like to know.
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Blocked intersections are only one problem here. How about the Romanian police actually learn to police(?!) As in actually do speed control, actually pull the guy over in the Porsche Turbo doing a 120 kph down Magheru and fine him! Romania has the most number of car accidents leading to death and serious injury of any EU country. Why not actually patrol outside villages and stop lunatics driving 400 hp cars at 150 kph down roads with horse carts!? Romania has gone from a land of 55 hp Dacia 1310s and 2 hp horse drawn carts to a land with an inordinate number of high powered luxury sports cars. Why hasn’t the police adjusted accordingly?! It’s just astounding for me as an American to see the differences in the police between the two countries. You don’t stop accidents with signs saying ‘Life is a Priority’! You stop them by policing and fining people and not letting drivers pay you off on the spot. Romania is bizarre in many ways, but the corruption and breaking of laws and apathy is what puzzles me most about the place. For me what this boils down to, is that I often cannot take the country or its people seriously. 20 Years later and a former Securitate agent is re-elected?! Romania deserves to be backward, ok? It deserves to be the way it is.
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