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Forums - General Discussion - Traffic fines based on income

 

Should rich people pay more for traffic fines?

Yes 29 46.77%
 
No 33 53.23%
 
Total:62
kowenicki said:
Stupid idea. And saying rich people just get away with all crimes as they can afford a lawyer is a very naive and silly statement. I do hate envy and jealousy, its so weak.

As for traffic offences, introduce a point system as in the UK. The fine is then secondary.

In the UK you are given 3 points for speeding, points expire after 3 years. Accumulate more than 12 points and you lose your license. Now that's a deterrent.



I obviously didn't mean they get away with all crimes. They do get away with more than some one who can't afford a good defense. Also, I'm not jealous. Try not to talk down on me because in reality you would be looking up to talk to me.



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sethnintendo said:


Rich people can hire good lawyers and get out of most fines/crimes.  Poor people go to jail (or get longer sentences) all the time due to having a shitty lawyer.  A rich person can get away with crimes just by pretty much "buying the court" with a good lawyer.  So poor people have been paying a much greater price with their freedom due to not being able to buy a judgement in our corrupt court system. 

If you believe the system is so corrupt and simplistic (it isn't), what would keep them from contesting their fines on the court, then? On the majority of countries they could easily claim it's unconstitutional based on the principles everyone is equal before the law or its closest equivalent. Or bribe the transit officers if the oportunity arises, since if you are giving them the power of imposing fines who could very well be above their monthly incomes, this would be likely to happen.

Your idea seems (more or less) fair and just on paper, I'll give you that, but my opinion as a law student is that on terms of efficiency and effictiveness of written laws, it wouldn't work. 



 

 

 

 

 

sethnintendo said:

I wouldn't support fines based on income for all violations but I believe some might be warranted. Take speeding for an example. A poor person could have half to their entire paycheck for a week nullified due to going 1-4 mph over the speed limit (least expensive speeding ticket in USA) while it wouldn't affect a rich person at all. My sister's husband is one of these semi "rich" people that doesn't give a fuck (he probably gets at least 3 each year). The fine is more likely to change a poor person's driving habits.


Well back to my Australia example, it is not so much that there is more poor people but they are just down right irresponsible (not all, but the ones I call bogans, is a subset of poor class).

Here we have Demerit points (not sure if each state varies). If you loose all your points within like a 3 year period you loose your license. What people use to do is find a buddy in the northern territory (NT) and get them to claim they were the one driving, as their state did not have Demerit points. So you could keep on getting fined and you would never loose points. Now NT has points so that loophole was closed.

Back to the bogans, they honestly do not give a fuck. They keep reoffending and continue driving unlicensed and don't pay their tickets.  The worst offenders do eventual end up in commuity service or jail if they get caught on a regular basis.

To combat this some states have introduced hoon laws (basically being morons on the road), where depending on what you are doing, you can get your car inpounded by the police for 3months to 12months. Eventually if you get caught enough times they will crush your car.

Rich people on the other hand do care as they need transport to get to work, so they don't want to loose their license.

I guess the outcome of this is, it all depends on your countries laws and culture on who cares and doesn't. So to answer your question it may be possible to deter rich people with higher fines in some countries that dont have license suspensions. 



 

 

Definitely, especially where I live. In the UAE, the wealthy local Arabs have the most driving offences, yet because they make around 5-10 times the amounts an expat would make doing the same job, paying fines is nothing to them, and they continue to break the rules. They are probably some of the worst and most impatient rough drivers in the world.



    

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I think it's a good idea but it would be hard to implement and force. Maybe a speeding offense should be 1% of someone's salary, for example.



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kowenicki said:
Stupid idea. And saying rich people just get away with all crimes as they can afford a lawyer is a very naive and silly statement. I do hate envy and jealousy, its so weak.

As for traffic offences, introduce a point system as in the UK. The fine is then secondary.

In the UK you are given 3 points for speeding, points expire after 3 years. Accumulate more than 12 points and you lose your license. Now that's a deterrent.


Its definately a big deterrent, especially in your first 2 years of driving when you only have 6 points to work with without getting your license taken away.



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kowenicki said:
Stupid idea. And saying rich people just get away with all crimes as they can afford a lawyer is a very naive and silly statement. I do hate envy and jealousy, its so weak.

As for traffic offences, introduce a point system as in the UK. The fine is then secondary.

In the UK you are given 3 points for speeding, points expire after 3 years. Accumulate more than 12 points and you lose your license. Now that's a deterrent.

We have that system here too, it's a much better deterrent then only a fine.
http://www.ontario.ca/driving-and-roads/understanding-demerit-points
You lose it for 30 days the first time you run out and may have to take your license test again. Then you end up with half the points for 2 years and can lose it for 6 months if you still don't get it.
Love this one "2 points for Towing people — on toboggans, bicycles, skis" :)

Of course the truly rich don't care as they don't drive themselves. They'll simply get another chauffeur.



If you think about it, making fine's based off of a percent of a person's income is really the only "fair" way to punish people. I don't think it will ever work that way because it would be difficult to figure out how much each person owes. If someone makes 10,000 a year and another makes 100,000, a 1,000 fine will hurt the first person much more than the second person. If the fine was at say 10%, the first would pay 1,000 and the second would pay 10,000.



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yes they should. the idea behind the fines is to deter people from committing these infractions again. The fines not being based on a percent of your income basically means its easier for rich people to break these laws. Basing on a % of your income (or your parents/guardians) will make it impact rich people more to deter them more.



Hot women usually don't get tickets cause they act pretty so we should charge them extra too.