# Driving around town late at night



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Hello everyone.

I was wondering if anyone has been pulled over by their municipal police late at night [3AM or later] for no reason, possibly because your car has US license plates very often were your reside? Or is this just a border thing?


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## DNP (May 3, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> Hello everyone.
> 
> I was wondering if anyone has been pulled over by their municipal police late at night [3AM or later] for no reason, possibly because your car has US license plates very often were your reside? Or is this just a border thing?


As a practical matter, you can be pulled over "for no reason" at any time.


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## Guest (Jun 8, 2011)

Driving around anywhere at 3 AM in MX is a good way to meet up with the bad guys. At that hour, the police think only drunks or bad guys are still driving around.

I guess I'm too old for the drama or the adrenalin, but I and my MX neighbors are always safely in our living rooms by 9 PM.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Late night driving.*



GringoCArlos said:


> Driving around anywhere at 3 AM in MX is a good way to meet up with the bad guys. At that hour, the police think only drunks or bad guys are still driving around.
> 
> I guess I'm too old for the drama or the adrenalin, but I and my MX neighbors are always safely in our living rooms by 9 PM.


If I leave a salon [rented party space] thrown for a Fiesta Quinceañera, baptism or wedding reception at 1:00 AM in the middle of the festivities before the Mariachis play the last hour or a Christmas Eve or New Years Eve party etc. which at least in Mexicali and Tijuana all go until 4AM I wouldn't here the end of it. Actually the streets are full of cars at that hour.


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## anoutlaw (May 13, 2009)

What they said and also... depends the state too.

No reason to be running around after 9 pm! also depends on city/state.


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## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

We haven't done a lot of night driving in Mexico, but have found ourselves on the road in downtown Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan around midnight several times, with no problems.
We've driven perhaps 50,000 km in Mexico over the past 6 years and, to date, with only one exception, have not been stopped "for no reason". 
(I went through a red light in centro in San Luis Potosi but was able to talk the cop out of a 660 peso ticket.)
The only "no reason" stop was along the highway between Navojoa and Alamos. We pretended to speak not a word of Spanish and the cop gave up. We're not sure of the reason for the stop: at no time did he indicate he wanted a "mordida". We were told later that he was probably just checking out that our 12 year old Pontiac with foreign license plates was legitimately in the country, although that explanation never sounded very credible.
Precisely because we haven't had a problem driving, (at least with regards to mordidas - one year we did have an accident in Oaxaca, and our car was stolen in Zihuatanejo the following year), we're leery about driving again this fall. Maybe we've been very lucky and our luck is bound to run out? Stories about carjackings, even in broad daylight on the toll roads, are sobering. And I have no idea how I would react to a blatant attempt at a mordida. 
I'm checking airfares, but, in the end, we'll probably just jump in the car in mid-October and try our luck again.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Police stops*



HolyMole said:


> We haven't done a lot of night driving in Mexico, but have found ourselves on the road in downtown Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan around midnight several times, with no problems.
> We've driven perhaps 50,000 km in Mexico over the past 6 years and, to date, with only one exception, have not been stopped "for no reason".
> (I went through a red light in centro in San Luis Potosi but was able to talk the cop out of a 660 peso ticket.)
> The only "no reason" stop was along the highway between Navojoa and Alamos. We pretended to speak not a word of Spanish and the cop gave up. We're not sure of the reason for the stop: at no time did he indicate he wanted a "mordida". We were told later that he was probably just checking out that our 12 year old Pontiac with foreign license plates was legitimately in the country, although that explanation never sounded very credible.
> ...


When we drive in central and west central Mexico we have SLP license plates on that SUV but always plan the trip to arrive in a city by sundown, especially since I have read about the fake road blocks in Michoacan and Nyrarit lately. I lived in Mexicali for 6 years part time and for the last 3 years most of the time and have been stopped by municipal police 11 times, 8 for no reason and asked for bribes all but twice. Once in Tijuana and not asked for a bribe and once for going through a stop sign in Ensenada, recently, and followed the motorcycle cop to a police station and payed $230.00 pesos in fines. That took 20 minutes. I presume the Mexicali police target Calif. and Arizona plates but in a given 2 hour ride around town will quite often see 3 or more cars pulled over. They are marked SMT when it is a transit cop checking proper registration which I will see almost every time I leave the house to drive any distance at least one of these guys with someone pulled over. I guess Mexicali is a police state. Also none of the police spoke any English to me.


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

Locally, and I believe that's true across Mexico, the municipal police have no traffic enforcement rights. Those rights rest in transito (traffic police) which is a state agency with municipal delegations. In the smaller communities, transito is almost absent during the night hours. 
Maybe the rules are different along the border. Locally I wish they would stop more persons at 3am.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Smt*



dongringo said:


> Locally, and I believe that's true across Mexico, the municipal police have no traffic enforcement rights. Those rights rest in transito (traffic police) which is a state agency with municipal delegations. In the smaller communities, transito is almost absent during the night hours.
> Maybe the rules are different along the border. Locally I wish they would stop more persons at 3am.



The office the SMT police work out of is the Sistema Municipal de Transporte (SMT). [Metropolitan Transportation System] The locals call them polica transito Their cars and motorcycles are well marked. The locals worry when they see them if their car registration has lapsed or have unpaid tickets usually.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Late night driving with US plates.*



dongringo said:


> Locally, and I believe that's true across Mexico, the municipal police have no traffic enforcement rights. Those rights rest in transito (traffic police) which is a state agency with municipal delegations. In the smaller communities, transito is almost absent during the night hours.
> Maybe the rules are different along the border. Locally I wish they would stop more persons at 3am.


{Nayarit .. ]

I just read a LA Times article about Mexicali because of your post I was searching for more answers why there it is so different than San Luis Potosi and TJ , police wise.
I mentioned on one thread about some asking about the safety there that after 10PM on weekends for more than a decade now that they have Municipal Police set up sobriety checkpoints on usually 4 or 5 main blvd.s until 4AM every weekend and have seen them moved around to other spots after 1AM or 2AM closer to the nightclub strip. Also the very large presence of Federal Police [Military also with them quite often, all in swat gear and many of both in ski masks] driving everywhere all the time.

The news reports hardly any violent crime [including murder, drug battles, bank robberies, home invasions, kidnappings etc.] the last couple of years as compared to the previous 5 or 6 years now. The federal Police arrived in great force just over 3 years ago and stayed. We see caravans of federal Police on the way to the highway to TJ driving fast through Mexicali now assuming they were called to TJ for something at times lately. [two hours away at normal speeds]

I think your answer is relevant to the interior as the border regions are very different as you stated. One reason for all this is possibly they are searching for wanted cartel members, they have caught some in Mexicali especially 3 years ago.

Mexicali Crime | One Mexico border city is quiet, maybe too quiet - Los Angeles Times


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*LA Times article*



dongringo said:


> Locally, and I believe that's true across Mexico, the municipal police have no traffic enforcement rights. Those rights rest in transito (traffic police) which is a state agency with municipal delegations. In the smaller communities, transito is almost absent during the night hours.
> Maybe the rules are different along the border. Locally I wish they would stop more persons at 3am.


The LA Times article statement that there is a lack of police presence in Mexicali is just plain wrong. As to actual police enforcement I don't know. I would assume that violent crime there is way down because of aggressive law enforcement.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Border City now safer*



AlanMexicali said:


> The LA Times article statement that there is a lack of police presence in Mexicali is just plain wrong. As to actual police enforcement I don't know. I would assume that violent crime there is way down because of aggressive law enforcement.


I brought this back up. I am living here [Mexicali], San Diego but most of the time in San Luis Potosi, a very safe and beautiful city in the central highlands of about 1.4 million people. I don't get it why some people seem they are afraid to do their normal daily things they enjoy doing NOB.


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2011)

You started this thread by asking about driving around at 3am, followed by describing normal activities such as parties running until 4 am. That may be the custom in Mexicali or San Luis, but I have never been to a local party/gathering in central Mexico that didn't wrap up by 10pm (other than Nochebuena, which typically wraps up by 12:30 or 1:00am). Everyone then went home after a "late" night.  

It's not a dangerous area, I guess people just live a different lifestyle here - it's a relatively small place filled with boring country folks who seem to work hard and spend their time with their families. The only people driving around here at 3 am are either a few locals who are more than likely drunk or travelers/truckers passing through. Nothing other than a few scattered clubs are open here after 10 pm.

I am not afraid of anything happening here, but for sure I know who is around me and what's going on nearby. Don't attribute that to fear, but rather to awareness or street smarts. PPPPP.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Party border cities.*



GringoCArlos said:


> You started this thread by asking about driving around at 3am, followed by describing normal activities such as parties running until 4 am. That may be the custom in Mexicali or San Luis, but I have never been to a local party/gathering in central Mexico that didn't wrap up by 10pm (other than Nochebuena, which typically wraps up by 12:30 or 1:00am). Everyone then went home after a "late" night.
> 
> It's not a dangerous area, I guess people just live a different lifestyle here - it's a relatively small place filled with boring country folks who seem to work hard and spend their time with their families. The only people driving around here at 3 am are either a few locals who are more than likely drunk or travelers/truckers passing through. Nothing other than a few scattered clubs are open here after 10 pm.
> 
> I am not afraid of anything happening here, but for sure I know who is around me and what's going on nearby. Don't attribute that to fear, but rather to awareness or street smarts. PPPPP.



Yup. TJ and Mexicali are different than San Luis Potosi except on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve [ until about 4AM] where the bodas, including ours ended at 1:30 AM and the salon events we went to also ending at 1:00 AM or shortly afterward. In Baja the salon events always last until 3 or 4AM and many house parties until 4AM. We get used to the music and fireworks until that late. The clubs and bars in TJ close at 4AM and in Mexicali at 3AM every night. They just like it that way. Has been the same for over 30 years. The carwash on a quite street is where you can drive in any hour and drive out your dirty car with Tecate or Tecate light packed in ice for double the price.


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