Rasmus Ristolainen plays for the Buffalo Sabres and makes about $5 million a year. In Finland speeding tickets are based on income. Another reason to stay out of Europe.
https://sports.yahoo.com/sabres-defenceman-rasmus-ristolainen-earned-himself-a-ridiculous-speeding-ticket-while-in-finland-000139701.html
That is obscene.
shareand so wrong.
shareBut he can afford it ! And ... as all the MADD moms wanted us to know - Zero Tolerance ! He makes a lot of money, he could have killed someone, he pays more. I don't see a problem with that.
shareYeah I have no problem with this either. I am sure there is a minimum fine for poor speeders.
shareAnd it's Finland's way of dealing with income inequality, to a degree. It's innovative. And maybe it'll actually motivate the guy to drive sanely and the same with others who feel privileged.
shareI agree and have no problem with this. Finland is one of the happiest countries in the world.
Of course, no one is lamenting the fact Amazon (and other billion-companies) pay $0 in federal income taxes while minimum wage workers do.
Who write the laws - rich people. They write them for themselves so guys like Epstein don't go to jail for the worst crimes.
I imagine this kind of policy would not work in a country such as the United States, even in most of its inner city areas where places are not as spread out unlike most of the terrain, which is. Places where driving around is a necessity for daily activities (jobs, groceries, hobbies) or where a lot of discretion is needed on part of the driver would in no way benefit the average American.
Perhaps hearing a native's take on this would provide a lot of cultural insight.
~~/o/
In the U.S., it would violate the Eight Amendment to the Constitution:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.share
The income-based fine is meant as a disincentive to speed and unfortunately, to do that, you have to hit them in the wallet. A millionaire isn't going to care or be hurt financially by one that's $250 or whatever. I assume a $135,000 fine will at least get their attention.
shareOnly poor people agree this is right.
shareSo who voted for it? Isn't Finland one of the wealthiest countries in the world? Why don't we see this law in Uganda or Guatemala?
shareBeing poor is relative. A poor person in Finland is obviously doing much better than a middle/upper class person in Uganda. In any case, what I meant was people that are not affected by this law. This is just another example of extreme socialism.
The ultimate goal of speeding fines should be to reduce accident rates and fatalities not government revenue raising. Penalizing a tiny % of the population "more" than the rest won´t actually reduce accident/road fatality rates since the vast majority of drivers won´t be penalized/deterred in the same way.