On my recent trip to Ukraine a taxi driver told me about the new zero tolerance for alcohol driving rules in Ukraine. Apparently officers will sometimes wait outside of restaurants and bars and ask drivers getting into their cars if they have been drinking. Obviously they can pick up quick bribes this way for anyone intending to use their cars to drive home.
He described what they use as a first test. To heck with annoying things like breath analyzers. Officers will generally ask drivers to "breath on me" and if they (think they) detect alcohol, either a fine or a bribe is forthcoming. One officer prefers to use cupped hunds which he will ask the suspect to breath into - another will roll up the actual proposed ticket itself and ask the driver to exhale into the formed tube. In both cases the officer will immediately smell the contents of the cupped hands or the tube to make a determination.
If you disagree with the officer's assessment there is another option - you can request to be taken to a hospital for a blood test - but many most people would not advise this. In Ukraine - if you want to make sure you get sterilized equipment (needles, sutures, etc.) you buy yourself at the pharmacy and take them to the hospital before any medical procedure. If you use supplies provided by the hospital - they are reused supplies and you have no guarantee that they are sterilized. In other words (he explained) getting an blood test for alcohol content could expose you to something far worse than a ticket, a bribe or having your license ultimately suspended.
I guess it pays to have bad breath when planning to drive in Ukraine. Personally I cant imagine driving in Ukraine without very good reason. Its really scary.
Roads here are bloody crazy. Driving at night is dangerous, even more so on main interconnecting roads. There are huge potholes everywhere. No painted white lines and now after 4 months of ice and snow, if you stray off the drive line there is about 6-8 inches of compacted rock hard ice, which is as shiny as glass!!
They do get the snowploughs and gritters out, but only rarely and it just makes more
potholes!
Then on top of this you have the standard of driving here - CRAP!
There are the ''Big black jeep/Mercedes'' brigades who don’t abide to any rules at all. They don’t stop at red lights or anything and are not flagged down by the ‘’cash wanting’’ police, in case there is someone important inside.
Then there are the ''old man in his 30 year old Lada'' brigade who is just glad that he got the bloody thing to start and will not stop for anything.
Then there are the ''Posh ladies in their big jeeps who can’t see over the bonnet'' brigade, who have no idea that there is anyone else on the road and if you meet them in a single lane road, they will wait all day for you to reverse because their car does not have a reverse gear! And if it did, they would break their long manicured nails, changing the gearshift position.
On top of all this you have bloody Police parked near every junction and traffic light, just waiting for you to sneeze the wrong way, so they can flag you down and ask for a cash bribe rather than write you a ticket.. If he smells drink, then the amount to avoid a breath test is now around US$400. Crazy, but it might be better than going to the Police station, especially if you don’t speak fluent Russian.
So my advice is to leave your licence at home and book an English speaking Taxi or use the safe, clean Metro system.
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I saw the potholes - some are as big big around as a standard bathtub - especially between Kiev and Poltova.
My driver told me that the best thing a newcomer can do if stopped by the police is to contend (whether real or not) that you don't speak any Russian or Ukrainian. He told me that in that case, if they want to pursue the matter they must get you a certified translator within something like two hours - and they cannot hold you more than three hours at the police station.
He said that first of all - the police are very unlikely to be able to find such a translator in that much time - and since the officer will have to accompany you to the police station - he will be losing lucrative bribe-revenue by not being on the road. In short the officer is not going to want to waste his time this way and will have no choice but to let you off.
I didn't ask my driver - but I wondered at the time - if you don't speak Ukrainian or Russian, isn't it likely that the police would assume you don't know you have these rights? And isn't it likely that they wouldn't give a damn that they were not allowed to hold you beyond a certain time?
He claimed that pretending he didn't speak the language had worked for him more than once. Of course since he had been in Ukraine for some time - not knowing the language anymore would not have seemed credible.