On Police Chases

"What if you don't pull over and just drive away?"

The question came up while we were discussing traffic laws and handling cops in Saigon.  We were in Ellen's apartment after a session of acro-yoga on her rooftop by the pool.  Ellen, a teacher from Wisconsin, was doing much better for herself working at an international school in Saigon than her contemporaries were back in her home state where they have to fight just to keep the meager salary that they were making.  The pay and benefits for "real" teachers(not ESL teachers, like myself) are cushy.

Ellen had just started riding a bike in Saigon and had some questions for the more experienced among us.

"Does anyone have a license?" Nobody raised their hand.

We started sharing our experiences with the cops.   It used to be that foreigners were left alone, but with more and more police speaking English, that was no longer the case.

"I got pulled over four times during Tet," Brian shared.  "First time, I was in the wrong lane, second time, I didn't have my lights on at night..." and so it went.

Tet[Chinese New Year] is the time of year when police activity is at its zenith.   Every cop wants a cut before the holidays.  Brian got away each time with a "contribution" of 200,000VND[$10USD].   That's the average, although Daphne once had to pay 400,000VND.  Still, much cheaper than a legitimate fine in a Western country[not to mention your insurance going up].

I told Ellen that Tet was the time of year to be on your best behaviour.
"Stay in the far right lane, don't turn left on red, even if its a one-way..."

I had only been pulled over once.  Fortunately, neither of the two officers spoke any English.   I smiled and pretended not to understand them, even when one of the cops was waving a license in my face as a visual example.  Eventually, they were so frustrated with me that they let me go without a fine.

"What if you don't pull over and just drive?" Someone asked.   But none of us had ever tried it.

Three days later, Daphne was running late for work[again].   I was driving her and went onto the SRW[Saigon River Way] to save time.  I was driving in the middle lane so that I could pass up the slower moving bikes on the right.  I saw a cop bike up ahead and tried to merge back into the bike lane before I was spotted. It was too late.  While, one of the cops was leaning on the bike writing a ticket for another biker, the other one was standing between lanes pointing at me with a baton and waving for me to pull over.

I pretended as if I didn't see him and drove right on through, between one cop and the other.  I heard a whistle.   I kept driving, my sideview mirror pointed towards the sky so I couldn't see whether I was being pursued.  By the time I made the exit into town, it was clear that I had gotten away.

Why didn't they chase me?  I think they make more money on the people who do pull over than the people who they would otherwise have to chase.  Less than 60 seconds from that whistle blow the cop had likely pulled over another driver already.  And they would pull over many more before lunch.   Why waste time with a bike chase?   Or maybe it was because his partner was already writing a ticket for another driver, so taking the bike wasn't an option.  Or maybe it was because I was a Westerner, and not worth the trouble.   I will never know for sure.

All I know is:
Cops - 0 Sergey - 2
[Knocks on wood]