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BiggerThe vices of the ‘canódromo’ extend to Santiago
In Santiago there is also a vehicle cemetery, most of them motorcycles. ONELIO DOMINGUEZ/LD
Santiago, DR
The northern regional director of the General Directorate of Traffic Safety and Land Transportation (DIGESETT), Colonel Juan Jimenez, explained yesterday about the existence and operation of the “canódromo” located in the old San Luis fortress of this city.
Jimenez pointed out that most of the detentions are motorcycles seized in this area and that they go to stop at the said center and are there because they do not have a rear light or license plate, among other infractions to the traffic laws.
“In a study, we have verified that traffic accidents where motorcycles are involved occur mainly because the driver does not have a functioning rear light at night, causing the people in the vehicles not to detect them and these tragedies occur,” assured.
Another reason why these motorcycles are confiscated is that they have expired license plates due to non-payment of taxes or lack of documentation, be its license plates, insurance or license.
He pointed out that between 20 and 30 motorcycles are seized daily, but this is done to protect lives, not “harm anyone or simply to annoy.”
As part of the procedure to recover a motorcycle, Jimenez explained that the National Police brings the retained motorcycles and then carries out a clearance process for the delivery to their respective owner.
“Everyone who is cleared by the process has their property returned, here we do not put obstacles for that, as long as it is legal,” he emphasized.
In the case of those who go to pick up their retained motorcycles, some point out that this institution does a good job in terms of the speed of delivery and that they have been seized for justifiable causes.
“Sometimes one gets careless and rides without a helmet. I understood that they were right, but really the process has been easy, they are working,” said one of them.
Others do complain about the process of recovering their means of transportation due to the large number of vehicles on the premises.
For his part, the president of the National Center of Transport Workers (CNTT), Juan Marte, said that this space in the Fortaleza San Luis is the substitute for the old Police Pilot Plan and that it reflects “all the abnormalities that exist in this country, with the issue of vehicles.”
COMPLAINTS
Benefits.
“For this reason, the conditions are created so that those who run this center can take advantage and make great profits by returning the vehicles with faults in their entry into the country, but based on paying large sums of money,” argues Juan Marte.
Parts.
Marte said that many vehicles and motorcycles of all kinds enter Haiti and Puerto Rico in parts or whole for a specific period and then remain in the country for good.
The vices are not about how the motos get into the detention areas. It all about what happens to them once there are in detention.
The moto owners have to pass through a gauntlet of legal and illegal barriers to gain access and possibly retrieve their motor bikes. There are similar blockades government officials and the media face from the detention operators when wanting to check and observe the (questionable) operation of the detention yards.
It is both in government institutions and the private area, especially gated residential communities that entry by officials and/or police for legal concerns or review is denied. Guards at the locations are ordered not to let anyone in. They do as they are told of face losing their jobs, period !!! What goes on behind the barriers?
When card playing there is what one calls is the “tell”. It is the behavior, body language of opposing players that give clues to their hand. Well, it seems the “tell” of the players, the Digesett guards at the canodromo, in Santo Domingo presented to the ombudsman and media gave their cheating away. It could be said the winnings from their cheating hands are supposedly for them and their partners. The ombudsman went there to call a bluff, to expose the cheating hands of the canodromo players.
Does Santiago have a “tell”?