Talk:Main Directorate for Traffic Safety

Please help!
If any of you people coming across this page live in Russia and can help, please do so! The book I have doesn't have that much information. Do any of you know what GAI stands for? Thanks! Dzerzhinsky 00:53, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Meaning of GAI
GAI stands for Gesudarstyenay Avtomobilia Inspektorat which means State Autmobile Inspectorate superbootneck 17:00, 17th April 2007 (GMT)
 * I'll just note that it's spelled "Gosudarstvennaya AvtoInspekciya" (the second and third words in the acronym are actually one compound word).

GAI = ГАИ = Государственная Авто Инспекция = State Automotive Inspectorate

Ukrainian GAI
The Ukrainain Gai was dissolved recently. I think it was due to people complaining that it was communistic just stopping random people and asking for their document. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ynyfrik (talk • contribs) 00:30, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

Joke Edit: "ПИДР" = "FAGGT" - Removal request
The sentence that says:

«ГАИ officers are called "ПИДР" (Полицейский инспектор дорожного регулирования, Police Inspector of Road Regulation) in Russia.»

is most likely a joke edit, possibly intended to embarass English-speaking tourists visiting Russia. The "PIDR" abbreviation is inevitably pronounced as "pidor" in Russian, which is an extremely obscene ("matnyi") slur, derives from obsolete "pederast" borrowed from French, and means "faggot". This is a well-known joke backronym, expressing drivers' derision and ridicule towards road police. As such, it should be removed from the article. AyeBraine (talk) 11:15, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

Update: I've checked again and the joke has its source in the rumour connected to the reform (which renamed militsiya into police, providing the "P" for the acronym). This rumour was disseminated via forums, social networks and small regional news outlets, along with other ridiculous acronyms for police departments and officials (such as ПИДОК and ОПСОС). These even found their way into the Q&A session with Vladimir Putin, who, though puzzled, jokingly replied by admitting that he's acquainted with the swear words themselves, but is unaware of any such acronyms. Finally, Internal Affairs minister Vladimir Kolokolzev had disproved the rumour himself: http://lenta.ru/news/2011/02/18/police/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by AyeBraine (talk • contribs) 11:33, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

Update: I've checked yet again, and PDRS acronym (also resembling "pidoras") is also a hoax, distributed in the same way (as "news" on forums and joke sites). AyeBraine (talk) 13:11, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Update: Oh my God, now Lithuanians (or brave Lithuanian-defenders) revert edits because there is an actual Lithuanian surname Pidoras. Yes, I'm aware of that. No, it doesn't change anything nor is it relevant to this hoax. And for extra clarity: the derogatory slur in question is NOT related to Lithuanians, it is a mangled form of "pederast". AyeBraine (talk) 17:56, 25 August 2015 (UTC)