A Finland Man Received A $130,000 Speeding Ticket For Going 50 In A 30 Because Finland Fines Based On Daily Income
Andres Wiklöf -- one of Finland’s richest men -- was driving on Finland’s Åland Islands on the Järsövägen headed towards the Åland Island capital, Mariehamn, when police caught him driving approximately 50 mph in a 30 mph zone.
Under Finland’s “Day-Fine” system, an individual's income is a key determinant in the size of the fine they are subsequently issued with by law enforcement.
I can't determine if I hate this or love this story and policy. On one hand (and on first read), I found it to be the biggest load of horse shit I'd ever seen. Half of Jeff Nadu's proposed salary for going 20 mph over? Buddy where I'm from if you're not 15 min early you're late, and if you're not going 20 over you're going too slow.
I don't care if he's Jeff Bezos, the man was barely speeding and should receive the same fine that I did at 16 years old on the very day I got my license. Everyone (cops included) knows that the rule of thumb is that going 9 mph over is completely acceptable, and once you hit double digits you're officially risking it for the biscuit. So while he was speeding and certainly deserved a ticket, I cannot wrap my stupid little brain around how any country in their right mind could determine that minor of an offense to be worth 4 first year teacher salaries.
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But on the other hand, isn't the entire purpose of a fine to deter the behavior? I would have to imagine that a $100 fine to Dave Portnoy and a $100 fine to Ohio's Tate hit differently, let alone $1000, let alone $10,000. Therefore you need to bump up the rich's skin in the game to make them actually feel it. I guess I understand the reasoning behind it, although I still disagree with it. I mean, I guess having ridiculously high fines is better than having low fines?
Which brings me to my next point: what happens if you're unemployed? Is there a minimum fine regardless, or can people just sit on their ass, collect welfare checks, and speed free of charge?
Me personally, I think the daily income plan for fines is stupid. Instead, if you really need a genius idea other than just fining people the same amount for the same crimes, institute some sort of community service fine. There's no amount of money that you're going to fine an ultra rich person that will hurt more than having them hang up clothes at the Good Will like they just got an underage drinking charge and have to volunteer til they get their ankle bracelet off. They say time is money, but for people that wealthy, time is more valuable. Because even at an outrageous $130,000 for going 20 mph, it's not like we're talking about a Milly here....
**Apparently we could've been talking about a Milly here if he would've pressed down on the gas a little harder.
The world-record speeding-ticket is currently held in Switzerland which has a similar “day-fine” system. Here, a total fine of $1,091,340 (3,600 Swiss franks per day for 300 days) was issued to a Swedish motorist caught driving 170 kilometers per hour (105 mph) over the speed limit.