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| The Mordida - Paying Bribes in Mexico |
The Mordida
If you own a car or rent one and spend a fair amount of time driving around the
city, sooner or later you’ll encounter that dreaded Mexican phenomenon, la mordida,
or literally “the bite.” Corruption is still rampant in Mexico, make no mistake,
and the mordida is alive and well.
When driving in Mexico, it seems one rarely gets pulled over for an actual traffic violation. Passing out tickets in Mexico for a traffic violation would make as much sense as handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. I’ve seen it all and it all from the omnipresent taxis driving the wrong way down a one way street then going up onto the sidewalk to avoid oncoming traffic only to gain two car lengths to monstrous trucks speeding down tiny one lane streets with their lights off.
More often, especially at night, one gets pulled over because the police need
money for a beer run. In Mexico, car accidents are generally settled by a duel
with pistols at 10 paces refereed by the police.
Not really.
But in a lot of ways it can be that scary. The one thing that should make one
nervous tooling around the city with its crazy traffic is getting into an accident.
There is no "no-fault" here… someone is going to take the blame. If
you get into an accident that requires minor repairs, no biggie. Bodywork in Mexico
is ridiculously inexpensive and things can normally be handled on the spot without
the police getting involved. God forbid the accident totals a car or still worse,
someone is hurt because at this stage the police get involved and things can get
sketchy indeed, that is if the accident was your fault. I’ve heard stories of
perpetrators bribing the police so that they would find the other party at fault
to get out of some serious trouble but I can’t confirm first-hand. If an accident
happens and its something serious, the one at fault goes to jail and sits there
until they can make fair restitution to the injured party. What determines fair
restitution is anyone's guess. It’s possible that if you have an accident that
is your fault and you injure someone, they may let you off the hook easy. In other
cases, they may try to milk you for every cent you've got. The problem is that
the leverage belongs to the victim because while you negotiate you sit in jail
so it doesn’t take long for someone to agree to just about anything to get out
and get back to their job, family, etc. If you’re a foreigner or if you’re a Mexican
that’s loaded and you seriously injure someone in an accident, well, vaya con
Dios as you may potentially have to pay tens of thousands or more before you can
get out. Not a pretty scene.
Note to self: If you’re going to do a lot of driving, buy some form of liability insurance.
Don’t let this scare you, however. For most of the driving I do, which is through
the narrow streets and along the Costera, nobody seems to get up above 30 mph
so we’re talking fender benders at worst. I’d be more worried being a pedestrian
and getting run over by a big bus with satanic neon blue trim and a big picture
of Tweety Bird or something painted on the side. Not making that one up...
come see for yourself.
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