I bought insurance from ATM (Asistencia Total de Motovehiculos) on Sarmiento 930, 2rd floor, Buenos Aires. East on street that runs diagnol past the obelisk. 30 pesos for 1mth, and a further 35 to incluye Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, although it takes 3 business days to issue the document for the other countries.

So anyway i was all fired up for some fun at KM341 today, and so stopped at KM339 to attach my helmet camera on the right pannier. Rode up to the checkpoint and the policeman are in the middle of the road, not on the right. Oops. But then this is how the conversation went:
Policeman: “Where have you come from?”
Me: “Concepción del Uruguay”
Policeman: “Where are you going?”
Me: “Iguazu”
Policeman: “Where are you from?”
Me: “Australia”
Policeman: nods his head in the direction for me to go and says “Buenos” (as they do, short for good afternoon)
Me: “do i need a fire extinguisher for my motorcycle?”
Policeman: “no” kind of smiles, and then starts walking to the car that is about to stop behind me, without giving me the chance to ask if my luggage was too wide!

I was hoping he was going to ask if i had a fire extingusiher, so i could say yes, and when he would ask where, i had the phrase ready “if there is a fire, i will piss on my moto”. Plus no other police have stopped me, nor asked to see my insurance when i detour off the road to ask them directions.

Damn. How come you have all the fun Gato Gato!?

Nice!

Good try, nevertheless. Forgot to mention they stand on the left not the right at KM341.

Beers on me if you can catch up to me in Florianopolis!

It stinks that you did not get to have some fun Simon, but it is good to know that maybe something has changed. I wonder if I should still report it to the Federal Police here in Buenos Aires.

It is a shame we did got get to meet up. Hope you the best for the rest of your trip!

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

Report it!

Jumping up and down on the officer's desk if need be.

The more reports they get in BA the better, they probably have a 10 report threshold before they do anything.

Good try Simon...Been stopped twice myself since I headed off from Buenos Aires but no fun corrupt police to shoot with the helmet cam here either. Maybe I have to head down to KM341 to give it a try or perhaps Peru will be fun enough.

__________________
Broadcasting my trips around the world on
http://swedishrider.com

Just been travelling in South America and met swedish rider at eco-camp in torres del paine. Would like to say thank-you for inspiring me into taking bike test. Would love to stay in contact. LOUISE

Driving back from work today past a Police checkpoint and a motorcycle unit came in pursuit of me. Asked me to return to the checkpoint. They had stopped me for having no insurance, very surprised as I have insurance.
Given a choice, go home (without my car) and get supporting documents or my car will be removed to a secure location at a cost of £105 to me.
Returned home, got documents, my insurance was valid but was not recorded on the Police computer.
Seems 7 days grace is no longer legislation.

The idea of corruption and brides sounds so appealling and armed with information from fellow travellers will be an enlightening experience compared to the UKs automated drones.

"Seems 7 days grace is no longer legislation."
Are you talking about the UK and the old HORT/1 form?

I'm glad this was stickied!

20,000 miles from Alaska to Ushuaia, and the only corrupt cops I met were 150-35 miles north of Lima. I was stopped 5 times, shaken-down 4 times, and I did not pay. Three times- at three different stops- I told the cops that THEY were the crooks. Oh I was pissed.

The last cops that stopped me, about 35 miles north of Lima, insisted that I stay the night in a local hotel, rather than chance the road to Lima. Why, asked I? More corrupt cops between here and Lima?

You can always tell that they're corrupt when they demand payment in US dollars.

__________________
Latin America Ride Report
Wisconsin to Alaska Ride Report

Careful what you wish for, you might get it...

Javier,

Aquí en Chile si pasa algo así yo puedo denunciar al carabinero (policía) ante la Dirección General de Carabineros. Es posible hacer algo similar en Argentina?

Saludos!

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Ya verás como quieren en Chile al amigo cuando es forastero (traditional song)

Jose Pedro Espinosa
Santiago, Chile

Si Amigo es possible denunciar la policia en Argentina. Pero despues de various denuncias las problemas sigue en una manera como no habia denuncias...???

Que bueno es la systema en Chile, si La Direcion General ayuda.

En estos dias algunas motocycetistas esta tratando a denunciar ciertos policias y tengo esperanza que va hacer una investigacion official. Vamos a ver....xfiltrate

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com

hello
we were stoped also 15 kms before colon / paysandu, the border argentine / uruguay coming from the south : before, we were and tried our chance at the border gualeguaychu / fray bentos (between buenos aires and colon) : it s been closed for 2 years !
we are driving in a 4x4 toyota
we did not have our lights on
so the policemen stoped us, took us apart, showed us their official paper with all the infractions, he wanted x equivalent liters of benzin in argentinian pesos, around 300 usd.
he said if we paid on the spot to him it would be less otherwise full price at the border with the customs or the police.
we had not read this thread before but we felt that there was maybe corruption in the air
we decided not to pay on the spot, he took our names etc ... and told us he ll contact the border officers.
at he border, nothing happened :-) all went super fine and quick without a carnet de passges en douanes

so it s still going on, i think it s the same area but not sure

take care there
happy trails

__________________
--
Vincent Danna

* www.va-project.com
Sept 2008 - dec 2009 : Voyage et art contemporain en Amérique du sud.

* http://vincent.danna.free.fr/
2002 - 2004 : Un tour du monde en moto.

Stopped us, said we've speeding 7km/h over limit (110km/h was max, they said ours was 117km/h).

It's the crossroad from the road from Buenos Aires on the direction to Iguazu falls that crosses with RP16.

S 33deg 02.004min
W058deg 37.007min

We knew our speed was OK and not over limit.

The officer wanted around 300USD fine, which clearly was over the local standards and gave us immediatly a hint he's obviously talking bollox and trying to make a fortune! (And he was very serious about it)

We said it's impossible, asked to show the radar-gun for proof, we have a contact in Argentina for help, etc. typical methods to tire the and spend their time - it worked. (thanks goes to Xavier @ Dakar Motos for advice)

So if you see a officer in mid-30s age with very serious face wanting your money then you know what to do.

worked for me yesterday , i was on rn19 west of san francisco, went thru a roundabout , looked legal to me,anyways cop shows up behind me from somewhere and follows me for 10 minutes with his light on .I gave him a wave to pass then after 10 minutes he passed , too hot to talk i guess .