Important Notice

It is not my intention to denigrate Saudi Arabia or its people. It’s like everywhere else, there is good and there is bad. I would rather focus on the unusual and the humourous. Offence is not intended.

Politics
“The country is not perfect. The media cannot be trusted, mistreatment of religious minorities is common and there are some that live in fear.” You can decide for yourself whether that statement is about Saudi Arabia, the UK, or any country for that matter.
Religion

To quote the Joker, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

khalas.
That is all I will say about either subject.

Wednesday 5 September 2007

Margrave vs The Traffic Police pt2

Unfortunately there has not been a happy ending to this story.
As I understand it, there is a telephone number you can call in Saudi to query your traffic fines but it's an Arabic language service and not many expats are aware of it.
Therefore in the past the only way an expat would find out whether he had any traffic violations would be when he tried to leave the country. This is because your traffic violations are checked at the airport / border on exit and if you have any outstanding fines you are not allowed to leave. This results in a mad dash to pay the fines before you miss your flight and you have no time to complain if you feel the fine is unjust.
This is no longer the case. You can now query your Saudi traffic violations online.
I suspect the policeman that stopped me either did not know about this or did not care. This explains why the traffic violation that he never handed to me (for not wearing a seatbelt even though I was) was still processed and I now have a 100 SAR fine.
This of course is thoroughly unfair.
Therefore I've decided to complain. Perhaps nothing will come of it, perhaps something will.

Either way, I will let you know…

25 comments:

MK Safi said...

hey man, i'm all for people who stand up for what they believe in and all, but you're in Saudi. i don't know if there is an official procedure to appeal. even if there were one, it wouldn't be the most efficient path to follow. the way things work around here is that you just go pay lip service to someone, suck up to them a little, and they drop the fine.

by trying to follow an official appeal procedure, you're just causing yourself a headache, and you're not changing anything in the world.

Anonymous said...

I hope somthing will come of it...

PLease let us know...

Naeem: said...

Margrave,

Not sure how you got into this predicament...when my sponsor company applied for my exit/entry visa, they were rejected due to a traffic violation against me. So I had to pay the fine before I even got the exit/entry visa to travel outside the country...so there's never been a chance for the 'mad dash' you refer to.

How were you able to get your exit/entry visa with a traffic violation against you?

Oh and nice blog...really enjoy it!

Life Out East said...

I've come to the conclusion that traffic police (and wardens for that matter) are evil the world over.

Having been back in the UK for a few months now I've just recieved a letter from traffic police in the south of the country. A car that I sold two and a half years ago has been caught on camera speeding. The current owner hasn't registered the vehicle and has no tax, so presumably no insurance either. They can't find him, or her, so they've contacted me and threatened me with his fine and points as I once owned the vehicle. Still can't get my head around this one.

Anonymous said...

hi-i was a phd student in your country a decade ago.i was given a ticket one morning in a slow trafic city centre street.it was between 2 trafic lights 100meters apart,so when i crossed the first it was green,and the slow trafic in front of me delayed every one untill the second light turned red.i was approached and select by a police lady- with dirty nails and callous face and toled me of my crime-but not the drivers to my left or right.i disputed this misdeed and went to court.i lost-i have to.thank God there was no british Gauntanamo.faisal- a young and good-looking olive skin in the past century driving NEW GERMAN CAR H

londongirl said...

Humn. I'm with Mohammed. Sometimes just paying the fine is the quickest, easiest answer - just consider it an expat tax...

Anonymous said...

there is now an online recourse for disputing fines in English with the appropriate authority.
www.moi.gov.sa/wps/portal/publicquerytraffic
No idea what the outcome of enquiry might me - not used it yet but thought you might find it useful!

Anonymous said...

i've been through similar situationS.

problem is, the traffic police officer gets a bonus for finishing a fine book,so he just fills out these to get his bonus.

I was once fined for "reckless driving" although i wasn't, and when I went to pay, it was blocked. when I enquired at the traffic police office, they said, you have to serve 3 days in prison first! well, i paid my lip service and "got away with it"

slightly off-topic, what do you all think of the MOI Portal and E-Services? as a core member on the project I'd like to hear some feedback (not from the client!)

Saudi Majix said...

funny, but it would happen again...
as a saudi just moved to Riyadh it was not easy at all, i have been thru same peoblem such as yours and nothing came out.
i started a blog and posted writing about things that happened in Riyadh that would never happen any where ealse in saudi or the world.

all i can say is... actully there is nothing much to say.

Riyadh is not my kind of city i'm moving back as soon my contract ends.

Anonymous said...

This sort of thing is not restricted to Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. In America they issued me a license which expired the same day (the temp. license paper lasted longer) and the DMV assured me the license was valid for 5 years regardless I'd never get stopped. Only when I tried to close my bank account I found out that the license was about to expire in 5 minutes... from 2 months since I received it.

Anonymous said...

I'm a Canadian teacher working in Kuwait. I was the victim of a hit-and-run while driving my car in Kuwait. I followed all the rules and regulations to get the police report, insurance and get the repairs done. Fine. Then months later I get a call from the police at my school. I'm commanded to come to the police station immediately. Why? After placing several calls to find out why I've been summoned, I finally got an Arab-speaking male colleague to speak on my behalf. Turns out the "case is closed -- settled long time" The police guy saw that I had long blond hair, was single and he just wanted to make a date with me. Hello??? I cut my hair very short that same day.

Anonymous said...

Hi Margrave,

I had to go through the same misfortune as you..in this case for holding up traffic on a two lane road. Only in my case I was trying to park on a Friday into this restuarantparking lot waiting while two cars parked back to back were backing up to leave...there was a cop behind in an anonymous corolla who it gave me a ticket for this....cant seem to see reason as well. i guess i will do as mohammed suggested, pay it up and pray it doesnt happen again....

P.S : I stopped eating at that restuarant.

Maha Noor Elahi said...

Hello Margrave..
I like your blog..will be visiting it often ...

thanks

Umra said...

Pay the fine and make your living. You are an expat after all, not a citizen.

Amanda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
usaha aris said...

Nice posting. thank you.

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