Ryan found a news story that talked about how Europe has develeoped a new system for speeding fines. Apparently, they’ve decided to charge people based on how much they make. So if someone makes 50,000 a year, and the fine for speeding is 1% of your salary, you’d have to pay $5,000 bucks just for one speeding ticket. On the other hand, if you make 20,000, you’d pay $2000. Basically, the more you make the more you pay for breaking the law.
Ryan’s not too sure how he feels about this. He’s not necessarily against making people pay more if they make more, but then the problem becomes where does that rule stop? Are they going to start applying it to other things too? Rich is 100% against this. He thinks it’s a stupid rule. Why should people be punished for making more money? People are breaking the same law, they should pay the same amount. They shouldn’t be penalized for being successful, or working harder, or busting their ass.
How do you think this should be handled? Would a bigger fine make people who can pay it easily think twice about breaking the law?
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Do you realize that this article is wrong? 1% of $50,000 would only be $500 for a speeding ticket… And 1% of $20,000 is $200. I love the Morning Mash Up show and listen every morning on my 1 hour + drive to work so I think it’s pretty funny this article isn’t even accurate!
I think it should be set up as a scale dependent on how many tickets you have gotten. The more you have on your record the more your ticket goes up each time.
I agree with Lauren. If you are a habitual law breaker, then stiffen the penalties associated with it. I try not to speed, but everyone does it – there are times i’ve looked at my speedometer and thought “oops, I didn’t realize I was going that fast”. So if you knew that every time you got a ticket for it, that the fine would be higher, it might make us all a little more aware. AFter all, it’s more about safety than anything else!
Just don’t break the law in the first place and there is no problem. And it’s not a good excuse to say you didn’t realize you were speeding as you should be paying attention to the road and your car at all times and not texting your friends or other distractions.
And no, I’m not a 80 year old man, I’m a 32 year old ex-motorcycle instructor.
;D
I believe it should be based off of how many previous violations you have recieved. That shows how serious you take the law and if you learned your lesson. Just because my household (my husband & self) make $40,000 a year doesnt mean I actually have $400 cause I was speeding when late to work on Monday morning on my 20 mile commute while listening to Morning Mash Up. haha
Seriously, if you’re rich, then a ticket is just like buying the right to speed. The point of making it dependent on income is so that it punishes the rich JUST AS MUCH as the less-rich, not punishing them MORE because they make more money. If people can “afford” to speed, then telling them it’s the law that they not do that doesn’t faze them.
We have had that problem here in Atlanta where apparently, instead of thinking that their sewer system is substandard and should be fixed, the government thinks that by paying the fine for water pollution, they get to keep doing it.
I agree that it should be based on how many previous violations you have…because the whole based on income thing wouldn’t necessarily work…my husband makes a good living but I don’t work…so if I got a ticket what would I pay…I have no income. What about all the rich celebrities kids who don’t have jobs…they technically have no income but they definitely have the resources to pay a hefty fine…how do they base it then..do they base it on the parent’s or husband’s income and how is that fair to the parent or husband who didn’t get the ticket?
I think is not ok. I mean does this also means that someone that is getting public assistance for everything else is also going to get the right to speed because their fine would be that much lower.?? Once again, those of us how work hard everyday for our daily bread would be the ones struggling.
And I clarify I have never gotten a tiket, but I agree it should be based on this, not on how much money I make.
Fix your math boys!! $5,000 is 10% of $50,000 — not 1% (that would be $500).
Many people are missing a vital part of this idea: Traffic violations are as much a violation of the law as murder. Our judicial system was created on the principle that everyone, regardless of race, gender, social station, etc is punished the same. Should a wealthy person get a longer prison sentence than a poor person? Lady Justice is BLIND for a reason – to promote fairness, equality and impartiality for all.
I completely agree with KC.
1% sounds like a rather large amount of money no matter what your income is. If you make $50,000, you’ll pay $500 for one ticket! Wow, you know this really sounds like a way for Europe to rob the average Joe of more of his cash than usual. I think tickets are ridiculous anyway. Now that’s not to say that driving erratically is okay. However, most people are driving between 50 and 70 on the interstates in Indy. The state roads people generally run around 50-65. I would argue that a fine doesn’t really fix the problem anyway. A fine sends cash from a citizen’s pocket into your government’s pocket. Let’s talk about how officers drive erratically in traffice without lights and sirens going. How about police chases and the damage caused during some of them. How many people have gotten a speeding ticket and were reformed by never speeding again? I would argue that if we were privy to the information about repeat offenders of speeding vioations, one would find that individuals are not reformed, but they exceed the speed limit over and over again. It is not the speed of the vehicle that causes disruption anyway, it is driving erratically. You can kill yourself or someone else at a mere 30 mph. Let’s be honest about this, folks, who are these traffic violations really helping here?
KC makes some good points but has gone off the deep end by comparing exceeding the speed limit as a violation of the law to murdering a human being.