My goodness, is this a first? I have just read about 500 women beating 500 men to road traffic jobs because they are seen to be more honest and honourable. So much so that soon the whole traffic police force in Lima, Peru will be female but not all that friendly from what I can make out.
All the same, well done girls for getting the jobs for the right reasons.
However this could soon be a real nightmare for drivers who break traffic laws in Lima and have been used to getting off lightly in the past providing they pay a ‘sweetener’ or bribe.
The reason for this decision is that Peruvian surveys say that female road traffic police are stricter, less friendly and – more importantly – less corrupt than their male equivalents. So much so that women traffic police are to be given complete control of the chaotic streets in Lima where some 8 million people live.
Incredibly, their 500 male colleagues are to be transferred to other departments. I predict a riot based on punctured egos and macho mutterings…
This seems to be the will of General Arturo Davila, the only man left as head of Lima’s traffic police.
And whilst traffic violations have been ‘settled’ in the past by male and female motorists bribing the road traffic police this strategy doesn’t seem to work with their female equivalents who are described as tough, ruthless and merciless; women are much more likely to impose the fines dictated by law.
Needless to say this won’t win women new friends on the roads in Lima but it might look a bit like rough justice to some women after years of putting up with patronising and ‘superior’ male behaviour in the past.
Let’s hope that this female power is used fairly, preferably in a friendly manner and doesn’t go to women’s heads.
FOXY Steph
