The legend of Prawo Jazdy

He baffled police across Ireland, an automotive scofflaw named Prawo Jazdy was racking up dozens of fines for speeding and parking violations, yet the Irish cops couldn’t catch him since the crafty Prawo Jazdy gave different addresses to the police it seemed every time he was stopped.

But finally a sharp-eyed Irish police officer discovered the amazing truth about Mr. Jazdy, in fact, there was no Prawo Jazdy, not a person at least. You see, Prawo Jazdy is Polish for “driver’s license.”

In recent years thanks to its booming economy and the expansion of the European Union, Ireland has seen a wave of immigration from Eastern Europe, particularly of people from Poland. And it seems that many of the Poles who came to Ireland like to drive fast and park where they please.

So in writing tickets police all across Ireland read “Prawo Jazdy” as the drivers name, not as the title of his (or her) driver’s license. They would write Prawo Jazdy on the summons, along with the person’s actual address, creating dozens of residences for the non-existent Mr. Jazdy in their computer system.

A memo is now going around to traffic police across Ireland that should once and for all put an end to Prawo Jazdy’s legendary reign of traffic abuse.