It was Friday afternoon and I had to go across town and today is day “9″ and “0″ and my daily vehicle is a “9″. What do do?

Take out the stretch limo and comply with the vehicular restrictions of San José, since the license plate ends in a “4″. Or take the change with my Mercedes getting caught and the high fine of ¢40.000 or so for violating the restriction, plus anther ¢150.000 for tinted rear windows.

My trek was to take me from the Rohrmoser on the west side of San José to San Francisco on the east side. The quickest route is the Cirunvalacion, which is full of waiting traffic cops at the Alajuelita, la Guacamaya and Desamparados intersections. I know this because I have travelled the route often.

But, Oh wait, it’s going to rain!

The skies over San José’s east side were dark. The wind had picked up and in the distance once could hear the thunder. Great, problem solved.

Why you ask?

Simple.

The traffic cops just don’t go out in the rain, especially the torrential rains of Friday afternoon that included lightning, thunder and some flooding in different parts of the city.

So, here I move along calmly, with the wrong license plate, confident that I will not be stopped. And as expected I ran into several Tránsito patrols, in the locations aforementioned.

But, the rain was too much and the Tránsito were well protected from the water under the bridges. The only fly in my plan would be a brave traffic cop who would weather the storm just to stop me.

Of course once I had concluded my business it was time to head home in the opposite direction. By now the rain had slowed down and at times stopped completely.

What to do?

The old route through Desamparados, Alajuelita and Escazú served sell. I was outside the restricted area, out of risk of getting fined (well, there was still the chance of the tinted windows) and even though traffic was not light, it took me less that 45 minutes to make the trek.

Point of all of this. When it rains, traffic cops just don’t go out on patrols.

Would you??

PS. The same occurs at night. According to my traffic police buddies, there are no active patrols at night, just officers on call responding to accidents and emergencies. But, be wary of the “operativos” – the spot checks which can be at on any road at any time of the day or night.This elite group of cops don’t follow the rain or night exceptions.