Latvian Highway: You call this progress?

There’s a well-known Russian anecdote about a police officer with a wife and new baby. The young officer can’t make ends meet on his paltry government salary, and he explains his worries to his chief. The chief relents, ordering his secretary to give the officer “a 30 kilometer-per-hour speed limit sign for one month only.” To readers who have not personally dealt with Baltic policemen, some of them will readily take bribes. The joke’s intended audience would understand that the policeman would use the 30 kph sign to issue fines which he would personally pocket. A practice which many suspect is still going on in Latvia. An entire summer of Latvian road construction was recently followed by the placement of 70 kph signs on the new roads. Whatever explanation the state wishes to provide—indeed, there is a bump—most aren’t buying it. Local drivers are convinced it is simply another way for the Latvian police to fill their pockets.