Getting caught for speeding or parking in the wrong place is always a pain. You know you shouldn’t do it but having to pay a hefty fine is going to be frustrating either way. But you should think yourself lucky. Driving laws are there for a reason and, for the most part, they’re pretty fair and sensible. That’s not the case in every country and there are some places in the world that have completely ridiculous driving laws, with a very unfair punishment attached to them. Next time you’re moaning, just remember, you could be living in one of these countries.
Thailand
Thailand has lots of customs that are very different to our own, but one of the strangest is their policy on driving in the hot weather. When it gets a bit warm and the air conditioning isn’t doing enough to cool you off, you might decide to take your shirt off. Not in Thailand. It’s forbidden by law for anybody to drive without a shirt on. If you get caught, they’ll tell you to put it back on if you’re lucky. However, in some cases, you get landed with a massive fine.
China
We all know it’s important to have drink driving laws. If you get caught driving under the influence in this country, you’ll need to hire a lawyer from somewhere like Romano Law, P.C. and you’re likely to get a fine and a driving ban. But in China, the punishments can be far more severe. A lot of the time people get a considerable jail term, but there has even been talk of the death penalty. Although it was eventually decided that the man in question would only get a jail sentence, the courts were originally trying to have him executed for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Japan
When you’re walking down the road on a wet day and somebody speeds past you, straight through a puddle and soaks you, I bet you wish you could have them arrested. Over here, you can’t, but in Japan, you might be able to. Well, you can’t quite get them arrested but if people are caught splashing people on the roads, they can get fined by the police. This law is enforced during the monsoon season when the problem becomes particularly bad.
Philippines
Most of us don’t take that much notice of our license plates unless we need to identify the car. However, in the Philippines, they serve more of a purpose. Different areas of the city are considered congestion zones and only certain cars are allowed to drive there at specific times of the day. Your license plate denotes the category of your car and where you can and cannot drive it. So, if you’re ever driving in the Philippines, make sure you know exactly where you can and can’t go.
Next time you’re complaining about how unfair it is that you’ve got a parking ticket, just remember that things could be a whole lot worse if you lived in one of these countries.