Why to avoid citations

This week I found out why so many Moldovans simply pay off the police as soon as they are threatened with receiving a ticket: it's way easier!!! Remember I got that ticket for turning right on a green light? (I kid you not) Tuesday I had to go to the police station to account for my wrongdoing. I got my Moldovan friend Tanea to go with me (she is a true blessing!) and we waited for almost an hour just to talk to the police inspector. He asked me to explain why I had done what I did, so - complete with diagram - I

explained but he still fined me 100 lei (@ $10). I would have been Me & Tanea (my angel of mercy!)

glad to whip out the 100 lei and give it to him, but in fact he informed me that I had to go to the bank to pay it. sigh. the bank. lineups. so off I went to the bank, without Tanea as she had another commitment and waited and waited and waited in line until finally I could pay my money. Then I had to take the receipt BACK to the police station. I got there and all the officers on duty were very busy outside admiring a big SUV that maybe they confiscated from a mafia boss, or maybe the police chief had just purchased that morning so I had to wait until that important meeting was over. Then I gave the receipt to the officer, received my license back and finally I was free to go. It had taken ALL afternoon. Moral of the story: don't get tickets.