Meeting with Transitos

I got this from Harry.

Monday there was a meeting with the state sub director of Mobilidad. State traffic.

His main points were:

1. They look out for 5 items - seat belts, alcohol, cell phone use, children under 12 not in child seats, and motorcycle helmets. (His words not mine)

2. They went over the alcohol limits. When stopped if you blow .25 - .40 you get a fine $10500p. At .41 and up the car is impounded and the fine goes up and time in the drunk tank go up. They try to impound near the test site depending on if they have a local contract with a local tow company. There is no contract in Chapala.

3. LCS can contract to issue driver license renewals. Ben White , LCS pres. said they would also look into possibly also issuing handicap stickers. 

4. They said that the state traffic officers were going to patrol the state roads and the Transito Municipal would patrol the villages. At present the local traffic officers do not have authority to issue tickets. This may be settled by december. 

5. A member of the audience came prepared with various postings and facebook items about the state officer known as El Gordo.  These were delivered to the state officials.

6. In no case are golf carts and ATVs legal to drive on any streets.

7. I asked Terry Vidal if a meeting could be scheduled with the state and municipal commandantes in order to clarify their relative duties.

Dale Palfrey was at the meeting and asked more questions after. There will be a forthcoming article in the Guad Reporter.

1. They look out for 5 items - seat belts, alcohol, cell phone use, children under 12 not in child seats, and motorcycle helmets. (His words not mine)

Toddlers sandwiched between two adults on a motorcycle is common.  Once I saw two adults, two small children, and infant in its mothers arms, and a medium sized dog, all on one of those grocery store bikes.

I even saw a transito around the LCS yesterday. I have never seen a transito down in the village before. Great place for a golf cart sting.......jaja. Hopefully they also nail the ones that impede traffic by parking 3 feet from the curb or too close to the corner.

State traffic control. . .that means Joco municipality too. Where every other vehicle is a quad with 16 people on it. Wow. Vamos a ver.

addtocart wrote:1. They look out for 5 items - seat belts, alcohol, cell phone use, children under 12 not in child seats, and motorcycle helmets. (His words not mine)

Toddlers sandwiched between two adults on a motorcycle is common.  Once I saw two adults, two small children, and infant in its mothers arms, and a medium sized dog, all on one of those grocery store bikes.

Once?????
Those other 5 items happen much more frequently.

CanuckBob wrote:I even saw a transito around the LCS yesterday. I have never seen a transito down in the village before. Great place for a golf cart sting.......jaja. Hopefully they also nail the ones that impede traffic by parking 3 feet from the curb or too close to the corner.

A double amen.

I predict this will all vigorously happen through the high season and holidays - thereby accomplishing several goals - but will disappear come spring and village life will return to normal.

Note the Mexican system of determining intoxication uses a different scales than we're used to in the US and Canada.

I believe the Mexican cutoff level of .41 is equivalent to our .05. I'm used to .08 from my time in Ontario so its more restrictive.

SunFan

CanuckBob wrote:I even saw a transito around the LCS yesterday. I have never seen a transito down in the village before. Great place for a golf cart sting.......jaja. Hopefully they also nail the ones that impede traffic by parking 3 feet from the curb or too close to the corner.

The meeting that Harry was talking about was at noon to 2 PM at LCS.  The reason for the Transitos being there was that the Super Jeje was there.

addtocart wrote:1. They look out for 5 items - seat belts, alcohol, cell phone use, children under 12 not in child seats, and motorcycle helmets. (His words not mine)

Toddlers sandwiched between two adults on a motorcycle is common.  Once I saw two adults, two small children, and infant in its mothers arms, and a medium sized dog, all on one of those grocery store bikes.

I once saw a pickup truck in Chapala with a family in the bed of the truck around a LIT charcoal grill, grilling, as they were going through town. Makes children under 12 not in child seats look like a joke.

I believe the seat belt law only applies to the front seats. The back seats and box of the pickup would be exempt?

Hmmm, I think the law applies to everywhere in the vehicle but they turn a blind eye to the back of pickups because it is often the only transportation for poor folks, especially in rural areas.

Somebody else might know more about this. . .

You could all take a knee at the next event where the Mexican National anthem is played. It's a start.

hahahaha

Defarge wrote:You could all take a knee at the next event where the Mexican National anthem is played. It's a start.

Those who can still bend a knee, anyway.

One of my favorite sightems are the pickup trucks with the cops in the bed, standing.

3. LCS can contract to issue driver license renewals. Ben White , LCS pres. said they would also look into possibly also issuing handicap stickers.  As far as I know a sticker doesn't mean much, you have to apply for an official disabled licence plate which has the wheelchair symbol stamped into the metal. Granted a lot of people use the sticker and get away with it, but if the official wanted to you can get a ticket for just displaying a sticker and nothing more official.

6. In no case are golf carts and ATVs legal to drive on any streets. - Are you guys up in lakeside not allowed to licence your ATV's? I have one here in Melaque with a Jalisco issued plate and registration. As long as you wear a helmet you can go on the roads no problem.

The jury is out on that question. Previously they said they would allow licensed golf carts and atv's on the back roads within the villages but recently they have stated that none of them are legal anywhere.

MexECO Tours wrote:3. LCS can contract to issue driver license renewals. Ben White , LCS pres. said they would also look into possibly also issuing handicap stickers.  As far as I know a sticker doesn't mean much, you have to apply for an official disabled licence plate which has the wheelchair symbol stamped into the metal. Granted a lot of people use the sticker and get away with it, but if the official wanted to you can get a ticket for just displaying a sticker and nothing more official.

6. In no case are golf carts and ATVs legal to drive on any streets. - Are you guys up in lakeside not allowed to licence your ATV's? I have one here in Melaque with a Jalisco issued plate and registration. As long as you wear a helmet you can go on the roads no problem.

Most businesses with private parking lots, such as Costco, large malls, and others, will not boot you out of handicap parking spaces for not having the "official state license plate", when all you have is the window sticker.  In fact, many will let you use them, if you are only of the "tercer edad".  I doubt Transito would give a ticket to anyone on public streets using a handicap space, getting out a vehicle using a wheelchair, with or without any display of handicap.

Trailrunner wrote:Hmmm, I think the law applies to everywhere in the vehicle but they turn a blind eye to the back of pickups because it is often the only transportation for poor folks, especially in rural areas.

Somebody else might know more about this. . .

I think passengers in the truck bed are required to be seated...at least that helps in preventing them from falling off into the roadway. In rural areas, farm workers are often loaded into truck beds and delivered to the fields without much consideration for this requirement.

If I can't drive my ATV on the streets, why do I have to license it?

A lot of Mexicans drive ATVs and it's the only way they get around.

So is this actually law now?

as said; enforcement is another question.

And is an ATV any more dangerous than one of those plastic scooters that zip in and out of traffic?

Oh yes, and how about the major stores that sell ATVs?

Is this for Jalisco or ???

ATV's are built for off road purposes. They usually even have a sticker on them that says just that.

And golf carts were built for golf courses. And maybe for The Villages in Florida.

None of the above about what the ATV and gold cart were built for touches real-World here.

There are lots of ATV here owned and used by Mexicans. So what's going to be the enforcement in Chapala?

And what is the motor vehicle code covering a violation? What is the fine?

Most iikely pay the fine on the spot?

Clueless, can you honestly say that you've had any contact with the 'real-World' in the last decade? I thought not. ...also you might want to lookup what a tu quoque fallacy is.