I think I have paid one traffic violation for speeding and one or two parking infractions. I did the usual "I don't understand" or "Give me the ticket and I'll pay it" for a while and it worked well for me. I could really ham it up and dissapoint them good. I've been careful and I don't drive as much as I used to and I think I've been lucky too.
A survey was taken in 2010 of Mexicans where the male head of the house was asked what percentage of the time do you pay a bribe when you...? The survey was conducted by
Transaprancia Mexico, although I wonder if they are actually are in the polling business.
The following is the percentage of times that
Jose Mexico will pay a bribe in the listed circumstances:
- To regualrise your auto for change of ownership or other services.......(you will pay a bribe).................................................10% of the time.
- Vending on the street or sidewalk outside your home or business..........................................................................................11%
- To get your auto e-tested or mechanically tested for official purposes....................................................................................13%
- Erect or demolish a building.....................................................................................................................................................13%
- To get a court legal action started and/or moved along...........................................................................................................14%
- For water hook up to a municipal system.................................................................................................................................15%
- For garbage pick up..................................................................................................................................................................21%
- For portable street vending.......................................................................................................................................................23%
- For getting into or out of a legal case with officials, (criminal or civil with a municipal or state court).......................................28%
- To the Aduana for entering goods.............................................................................................................................................28%
- To get your car out of the pound................................................................................................................................................59%
I got this from a blog discussing the "C" word. Mexico being so diverse in culture, remote, many people impoverished and so many other factors would make doing a survey in this country difficult I would think, as it would be hard to get representative samples.
For instance:
This blog quoting Transparancy Mexico (whom I did not search for info on) says that you will need to pay a bribe 13% of the time to do a water hook up. How many times does
Jose Mexicano get a water hook up in his life that he's had to pay a bribe for once every 8th time. It could say that 13% of respondants said they pay bribes for that, but it doesn't.
Anyway, it looks like the average Mexican household pays its share of
fines and
permit fees to keep daddy moving. The blog quotes the statistics but they don't make sense to me. Does the average Mexican have a court case of any type? I guess the average Mexican family has an auto. I've never needed a building permit for any of my work as where I owned was remote or the work inside. Does the average Mexican even get a builing or demolishing permit?
I'm beginning to think that US visitors got it real good here¡ I never heard of a tomzapper paying a bribe to bring his scuba equipment from home.