Politie

Recently, I have started wondering more about the police, or politie as they are called here, and what their role is in the city. You see them everywhere...on foot, bikes, motorcycles, cars, and vans. They seem friendly enough! Other than giving parking tickets, I haven't really seen them do much other than be a presence. I'm not trying to say they don't do anything, I just haven't really witnessed it. Obviously they keep people in line because Gent is a very safe place! In the past two weeks, I have had two little encounters with the politie while I was driving. The first time, I was driving in a bus only lane. The officer behind me passed me and pointed that out to me. He also waved for me to come out of that lane and into the proper lane, then drove off. I thought that was nice of him! The second time happened just yesterday. I was driving home from Ikea and got a little turned around. When I realized I was going the wrong way I, as I would back home, just quickly turned onto a side street, did a u-turn, and pulled up to the street to go back the other way. I knew this probably wasn't allowed because there wasn't a turn lane for me, but I decided to do it anyways because I didn't want to go any further in the wrong direction than I had to. I was also heading into a crazy construction zone and didn't know when I would have another chance to turn around. As I turned onto the side street, I pulled right in front of an officer coming the other way!!! I was sure this would be my first tongue lashing since being in Belgium. As I was pulling up to the stop sign to turn back onto the main road, the officer slowly rode by and motioned to me that I was not allowed to do what I just did! I threw my hands up and mouthed "sorry" a bunch of times. Rather than coming to chastise to me, he motioned that it was ok and continued to ride on! Again, I thought that was very nice!

So, while I'm still not sure if they are super strict, or what exactly you will get in trouble for, I am thankful that they have been gracious to me as I continue to learn the ropes!