Friday is always spent on the road doing “Diligencias” (Errands) and today was no difference. At the Aduana (Customs) I picked up another 15 packages for missionaries and this time it only took 1:45 to be done. Last week ti took three and a quarter hours.
At the “Centro de Servicio” I had 30 cases of Books of Mormon to pick up plus cases of pamphlets and other supplies so the office Elders came in the pickup to help. I couldn’t have gotten them all in my blue Corolla.
During my “diligencias” I saw an interesting sight for the first time that I’ve heard some of the veteran Elders talk about. It was a motorcycle round up by AMET, the traffic police. There were a couple of flatbed trucks loaded with motorcycles being hauled away.
About 90% of the “Motores” (Motorcycles, pronounced: Mow-tow-rays) in the Dominican Republic are not licensed. They are supposed to be but most people don’t bother. There are millions of them in the capital, they are everywhere, they clog the streets and none of them obey traffic laws. If the “Motore” owners would just license there motorcycles the budget problems of the nation would be solved overnight. But most choose not the license their cycles because enforcement of the law is so lax.
The AMET don’t ever stop a “Motore” for not having a license plate like they do in the US. Here they only enforcement they do is every once and a while the AMET police will set up a check point at an intersection some place in the city. Every “Motore” that comes by is stopped and checked for a license plate and registration. If the driver doesn’t have his documentation in order, his motorcycle is impounded, loaded on a flatbed truck and hauled away to AMET headquarter. Later the owner came come by and pay the fine and get his cycle back.
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