If this is true it sounds like a great idea.

[stevefoerster@social.vivaldi.net]

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon I appreciate where they're going with this, but I'm guessing this works because Finland doesn't exploit "highway safety" as an excuse to shake down motorists for revenue—unlike much of the US.

[mschomm@bonn.social]

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon
'day fines' are indeed based on income and 'the income of the person is calculated on the basis of the latest taxation data', quote from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-fine#Finland[10]

[mennowolff@ohai.social]

@SteveFoerster @The_Whore_of_Blahbylon
Yup, and the Netherlands, where the government has simply admitted that they do that. They acknowledged that for some people, a simple speeding ticket can be debilitating, but they refuse to do anything about it, because budget.

[mennowolff@ohai.social]

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon
Yes, several Nordic countries do that as well as Switzerland, I believe.

[stevefoerster@social.vivaldi.net]

@MennoWolff @The_Whore_of_Blahbylon It's highway robbery—literally.

In theory, the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution should prevent that sort of thing here, but like the rest of the Bill of Rights, it mostly doesn't work.

[jaywink@jasonrobinson.me]

@{the_whore_of_blahbylon@mastodon.social} Yeah, and not just speeding fines, but many types of fines. For example I pay a lot more fines to get arrested for protesting against climate change than a student, for example.

[mina@berlin.social]

@MennoWolff

In Switzerland, they do it for severe speeding.

In 2010 a Swedish millionaire was fined 1.08M Swiss Francs ($1.4M) in Switzerland.

Last year, a French millionaire had to pay 90K Swiss Francs for driving 77kph where 50kph was allowed.

In Germany, it would have cost him a mere 210€ - a joke.

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon

[a_no_nee_moose@nrw.social]

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon a fine that is the same amount for all people, is only a fine on poor people.

[mennowolff@ohai.social]

@mina @The_Whore_of_Blahbylon
In NL the same would cost you 324€.
A joke for some but a significant part of the disposable income for others. The punishment of being poor
The problem is that the government has made traffic fines a specific class of fines. It's nearly impossible to object to them, and paying late incurs even more steep fines, making them the ideal cash cow for the government.

[mina@berlin.social]

@MennoWolff

I reckon, fines not tied to income are just paid permits.

Want to drive 60 instead of 50?

50€, but only if you get caught.

It's raining and you don't feel like walking?

There's a convenient spot under the "no parking" sign. 30€, if you're unlucky.

Rules are for poor people.

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon

[rbender@mastodon.social]

@The_Whore_of_Blahbylon I always think of Steve Jobs driving without a license plate, speeding and parking in handicapped spots. The fines were nothing to him. He should have been fined like a million each time.