Police

I have lived in Canada for the past 16 years. In those 16 years, I have never been pulled over by police. Never!

I have been here for less than 6 months, and in the last two weeks, I got pulled over twice!

First time I got pulled over was when I was driving from Pula back to Zagreb. It was Sunday night, roads were clear and I was hurrying to get home as Carla was to arrive in Zagreb the next day. So, I am going really fast (faster than the speed limit) when I see a policeman standing in the street waving his little paddle indicating that I should pull over.

First thing that went through my head was, "damn, how fast was I going, and did I get to slow down enough in time". Oh well, gotta pull over now. If I keep driving it will only get worse. :-) So I pull over. The policeman then asked me for my driver's license and prometna dozvola (vehicle registration). I gave him my Canadian driver's license and that surprised him a bit. He asked, "You moved here from Canada?", meaning "Are you dumb or something?" :-)

The policeman then went over to his buddy in the car to verify my documents. I was still concerned about my 'excessive speed' but then I realized that these guys don't have radar guns. They're too expensive! Phew! Close call. The policeman returned with my documents ten minutes later and I was back on the road. No drama. (As my favourite British fiction hero - Nick Stone - likes to say)

Second encounter with police happened yesterday, when we were driving back from Sisak. I knew that police was up ahead because three people had flashed their high beams at me a kilometer ahead. Ok, the first guy flashed me because my high beams were on (oops) but the other two were trying to warn me to slow down. And I DID! :-)

So, the pulling over routine was the same. Guy standing in the middle of the street, with a paddle saying STOP (which I only saw when I pulled over) motioning me off the road. Asked for my driver's license and registration. Took them, went to his buddy in the car and returned five minutes later. This guy also asked me if I had the required safety equipment in the car (safety triangle, first aid, and a reflective vest). Luckily, I bought those items as soon as I found out that they were mandatory, about a month after buying our car. The policeman returned my documents and we were back on the road.

As we got into the city, we saw another cop pulling people over for a 'random' inspection. Too much inspecting going on if you ask me.