Originally Posted by
AlicorporateUK
Far from doubting your daughter's side of the story, but could it actually be that she went through a red light, though - how would you know if you weren't there? A language-related misunderstanding could have also played a significant part. That aside and trusting what your daughter is saying, I can tell you that I've been coming to Bosnia on a weekly basis (work) for quite a few months now and had several friends coming over visiting from Britain/Italy/Poland (mostly driving from other parts of the region) and nobody ever reported even the slightest attempt of bribery from the local forces. Incidentally, I also got stopped a couple of times and always found police officers extremely friendly, once I was unable to get myself understood in English (which is my main language) and switched to Polish, a rather funny situation as they could obviously get some words and they asked whereabouts in Russia am I from (my Mrs, from Poland, was clearly not impressed)
On the whole, not an issue as far as I've experienced so far.
G
Anything is possible, but I think we can all agree that police officers in non-corrupt countries don't ask drivers to pay 500 euro fines "on the spot" for supposed red light violations. And then somehow agree the fine should be 1/8th as much when they don't get the higher amount.
And, despite your good experiences, I see on tripadvisor that this is a common problem:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...rzegovina.html
FWIW, many years ago, right after the Berlin Wall fell, I had similar problems in other Eastern European countries. In the Czech Republic, for example, I was pulled over (along with everyone else driving German plates) by officers who claimed we didn't come to a complete stop while merging from an exit ramp. We had to pay our "fines" in cash. I contacted the US Embassy and they were aware of the problem, but there was little they could do. Corruption happens. It's always unfortunate.