Pay a speeding ticket based on your income?

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  • macpatti
    macpatti Posts: 4,280 Member
    I completely disagree. Punishing people for being successful is a ridiculous concept.

    I suppose that means you define "success" by the amount of money you make.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    The ONLY problem I see with this are the kids (who, I assume, are the larger population of these repeated offenses) will not be "schooled" on their behavior since daddy pays and if you go by their parents income, then you're risking taxing alot of kids (like me) who like to be independent regardless of their parents good fortune
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    I'm not sure I would agree with this. While I can see where you're coming from with 'rich' people snubbing their nose at the fines, I can also see some deadbeat doing the same and taking advantage of it.

    I would *think* the only way to enforce it would be thru your tax statements or W-2 or something like that, and there are plenty of deadbeats out there who don't file taxes or don't claim income.
    Lol, that's easy. They just end up going to jail.................:laugh:

    AH! Hadn't even thought of that! Brilliant!
  • AnninStPaul
    AnninStPaul Posts: 1,372 Member
    I completely disagree. Punishing people for being successful is a ridiculous concept.

    Speeding and other traffic infractions have the same potential consequences whether the offender makes $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000 per year. The punishment should be based on the degree of the offense, not the size of the offender's bank account.

    What's next? Grocery and gas prices relative to the purchaser's annual income?

    Don't laugh...a former employer charged for parking based upon grade level...we were wondering when we'd have to show our paystubs in the cafeteria....
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Although...this whole argument implies that someone IS going get a speeding ticket.

    I know plenty of people (sadly I'm not one of them) who have never received a ticket, for anything, so this sort of law wouldn't affect them at all.
    DING DING. I'll have to dig it up, but a stat I read had "professionals" receiving more speeding tickets than their blue collar counterparts.

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  • chrishgt4
    chrishgt4 Posts: 1,222 Member
    It would be simpler if it wasn't money at all, but some community service. That way everyone gets equal punishment.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    The ONLY problem I see with this are the kids (who, I assume, are the larger population of these repeated offenses) will not be "schooled" on their behavior since daddy pays and if you go by their parents income, then you're risking taxing alot of kids (like me) who like to be independent regardless of their parents good fortune
    I'm thinking that kids can't drive if the car is taken away.

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  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    DING DING. I'll have to dig it up, but a stat I read had "professionals" receiving more speeding tickets than their blue collar counterparts.

    That wouldn't surprise me one bit.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/ascii/cdsp02.txt

    It's old, but gives info on speeding stoppages on gender, race, etc.


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  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    The ONLY problem I see with this are the kids (who, I assume, are the larger population of these repeated offenses) will not be "schooled" on their behavior since daddy pays and if you go by their parents income, then you're risking taxing alot of kids (like me) who like to be independent regardless of their parents good fortune
    I'm thinking that kids can't drive if the car is taken away.

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    But just like the adults can bring in the traffic lawyers, so can the kids who's parents can afford them. On the flip side, you're still hurting the more mature mentality, independent kids who're trying to make it on their own.

    BTW, by kids in mean folks who're still fairly young (18-25?)
  • sbduvall
    sbduvall Posts: 42 Member
    I think there are other ways to deal with it. I agree with the other post, it is like you are punishing people for being a sucess. In Oregon if you are going 20 miles over the speed limit (our highway spees is only 55) it is a $450 dollar ticket and you get your license suspended for a month I think. If it is less than that speed you get a smaller ticket but not by much and if you get 3 in a year you lose your license for 6 months. So the rich can turn their nose up at the ticket all they like. They will still lose their right to drive. And some companies frown on that if it happens enough they can fire them. (Oregon is also a no reason state. They can fire you because your personality clashes with the rest of the office, or because they just don't like you.)
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    It would be simpler if it wasn't money at all, but some community service. That way everyone gets equal punishment.

    That would even be better. A certain amount of community service by a certain date - and the amount of service is determined by the type of infraction and # of previous infractions.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    It would be simpler if it wasn't money at all, but some community service. That way everyone gets equal punishment.

    That would even be better. A certain amount of community service by a certain date - and the amount of service is determined by the type of infraction and # of previous infractions.
    Yep that would be cool. Having to pick up trash along the free way sucks. I did it for 8 hours to fulfill a community service to avoid a big fine for speeding back in the day. I haven't had a speeding ticket since 1989.

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  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
    It would be simpler if it wasn't money at all, but some community service. That way everyone gets equal punishment.

    That would even be better. A certain amount of community service by a certain date - and the amount of service is determined by the type of infraction and # of previous infractions.
    Yep that would be cool. Having to pick up trash along the free way sucks. I did it for 8 hours to fulfill a community service to avoid a big fine for speeding back in the day. I haven't had a speeding ticket since 1989.

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    This would cause substantial financial harm to a lot of communities. Not that I think traffic infractions SHOULD be viewed as a source of revenue, but the fact is they are.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    It would be simpler if it wasn't money at all, but some community service. That way everyone gets equal punishment.

    That would even be better. A certain amount of community service by a certain date - and the amount of service is determined by the type of infraction and # of previous infractions.
    Yep that would be cool. Having to pick up trash along the free way sucks. I did it for 8 hours to fulfill a community service to avoid a big fine for speeding back in the day. I haven't had a speeding ticket since 1989.

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    This would cause substantial financial harm to a lot of communities. Not that I think traffic infractions SHOULD be viewed as a source of revenue, but the fact is they are.
    Lol, then they could find another way to find revenue............................maybe charging safety tests for vehicles? The don't have it in CA, and I wish they would. There are some cars on the freeway that SHOULDN'T be there.

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  • Kara_xxx
    Kara_xxx Posts: 635 Member
    that is what points on the license are for.
    And of course there's no people driving out there on suspended licenses or no licenses.

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    Well in my experience (having written pre-sentence reports for court for the UK probation service) it is not the super rich who take that risk.

    If you're a successful business man driving on a suspended licence, when caught, will result in you going to court and a criminal conviction does not look very good on most successful people's CVs.

    In my opinion fines never work on those where there is nothing to take. In the UK our courts are totally overstretched enforcing fines. People on benefits never pay them, go to court, get another fine etc, eventually they all get written off. No consequences. Those who already have previous convictions are also more likely not to insure their cars, drive around without MOT and without a licence. Then they get "disqualified" (banned from driving) when they never had a licence in the first place. Ridiculous. They have just proven they don't respect the simple rule of not driving without a licence, so a driving ban is unlikely to make any difference. The shocking think is most of them have never learned to drive properly beyond joyriding, drive unsafe vehicles and are true menaces on the road.

    Believe me your had working business man really isn't the problem. They usually care about their licence too much as they need it for work, and in many jobs in the UK you can lose your job with a criminal record.
  • Kara_xxx
    Kara_xxx Posts: 635 Member
    I completely disagree. Punishing people for being successful is a ridiculous concept.

    Speeding and other traffic infractions have the same potential consequences whether the offender makes $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000 per year. The punishment should be based on the degree of the offense, not the size of the offender's bank account.

    What's next? Grocery and gas prices relative to the purchaser's annual income?

    Don't laugh...a former employer charged for parking based upon grade level...we were wondering when we'd have to show our paystubs in the cafeteria....

    Ironic... In my job it's all the chief execs and directors that park for free... and all the nurses, social workers etc pay!
  • If the fine is a percentage and it's the same percentage regardless of 'class' then you pay the same percent as the next guy. I don't feel it's class warfare when you're trying to create a necessary deterrent.
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
    Eh, just doesn't seem right. I think even the rich aren't huge fans of paying $100 for a ticket.
  • travisseger
    travisseger Posts: 271 Member
    I completely disagree. Punishing people for being successful is a ridiculous concept.

    I suppose that means you define "success" by the amount of money you make.

    You assume incorrectly. Success can be measured in many ways. Money is just one of them, and it is not at the top of my list. However, since the entire premise of this argument is based upon how much money an individual makes, then yes, my use of the word "successful" refers to money in this instance.

    I am by no means rich, but we do earn a comfortable income. It wasn't always that way. I started at the very bottom of my company in a blue collar position but, through hard work and dedication, have worked my way into a white collar position near the top of the company. Why should I be punished for that? I haven't changed since then. My paycheck just has a few more numbers.

    Why don't we go to the other extreme? Why don't we raise the costs of speeding tickets and have an income requirement in place that in order to obtain a drivers license and own a vehicle you have to have a family income of $100,000 at minimum? Sounds ridiculous, right? But no more ridiculous than what is being proposed here.

    Wealth envy is a very ugly thing. Hating on someone because they have more or looking down on someone because they have less is just wrong. Plain and simple. If you don't like your station in life, do something to change it.
  • FatStoatLondon
    FatStoatLondon Posts: 197 Member
    Sounds like a good idea to me :) fines are supposed to hurt, after all.
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
    I completely disagree. Punishing people for being successful is a ridiculous concept.

    Speeding and other traffic infractions have the same potential consequences whether the offender makes $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000 per year. The punishment should be based on the degree of the offense, not the size of the offender's bank account.

    What's next? Grocery and gas prices relative to the purchaser's annual income?

    I think the punishment should be sufficient to deter the bad behaviour in the first place right? I agree in principal with you.

    What other options would be fair and reasonable. Court ordered driver re-education?
  • greasygriddle_wechnage
    greasygriddle_wechnage Posts: 246 Member
    in before the lock!
  • pitbulllover
    pitbulllover Posts: 98 Member
    So what's the point in trying to earn/save more money if we make the cost of everything go by percentages??

    Some things, everyone has a right to have. I consider health care and education to be two of those things...

    To suggest that poor people should have lower punishments for speeding is just ridiculous. (and I'm not a republican)
  • Being danish this topic got my attention:)

    I would like to give you the "danish" way of looking at it. Not to change your minds or anything, but to offer you a perspective from across the ocean:p

    When we set up a law for trafic it has a purpose. That purpose it to make sure that most people stay safe in trafic. Less traffic kills/accidents and so on. So we look at the law from two perspectives, one is to fine people when they commited a crime, and the other is to make sure that they don't do in the first place.

    If you should prevent accidents due to speeding and stuff you need to hit people where it counts, aka. their wallet. For some people a small fine would mean nothing and therefore it would be hard to prevent accidents. And come on if people really don't want to pay a fine, then don't comite the crime, it's that easy.

    So we don't see it as punishing people, since they can just stop speeding.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate if I look at the numbers it looks like Dk and the states have pretty similar numbers, so my conclusion must be that a country has to do what works. In Dk a differential system works.
  • StarvingDiva
    StarvingDiva Posts: 1,107 Member
    ng. Hating on someone because they have more or looking down on someone because they have less is just wrong. Plain and simple. If you don't like your station in life, do something to change it.

    AMEN!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Eh, just doesn't seem right. I think even the rich aren't huge fans of paying $100 for a ticket.
    The rich aren't fans of paying for anything they don't want.:laugh:

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Wealth envy is a very ugly thing. Hating on someone because they have more or looking down on someone because they have less is just wrong. Plain and simple. If you don't like your station in life, do something to change it.
    Has nothing to do with wealth envy. The point was DETERRENCE.

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  • livinginwoods
    livinginwoods Posts: 562 Member
    If someone commits a violation or crime the fine and punishment should be the same, not matter what their social class is. I wish people would get over the wealthy envy.
  • deadbeatsummer
    deadbeatsummer Posts: 537 Member
    and in the UK, everyone who is on job seekers allowance will have theirs paid for them and a kiss on the cheek :grumble: