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Sticking It to the Scofflaw
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jun 08, 2009 03:19pm |
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| Category | Strategy |
| Media | Magazine - US News and World Report |
| News Date | Sunday, March 18, 2007 09:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Time is money. But for drivers who try to save time by speeding through the streets of Finland, the money they'll owe can be staggering.
Case in point: In 2004 the heir to a family sausage fortune was caught driving 50 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone in Helsinki. His fine was 170,000 euros, then worth about $204,000.
The reason for such astronomical fines lies in Finland's lofty ideals of egalitarianism. The nation imposes graduated traffic fines based on the wealth of the lawbreaker as well as the severity of the offense. This system, adopted in 1921, is intended to ensure "equal severity of the fine for offenders of different income and wealth," according to a paper by Tapio Lappi-Seppala, director of the National Research Institute of Legal Policy. Traffic fines must hurt the millionaire as much as the minimum-wage worker. |
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