In Finland, speeding tickets are a bit unusual--the punishment fits the crime. When you get a ticket there, the fine is based on how fast you were going AND your net income. So, the $100 fine for someone like us becomes $1000 for the wealthier person--and so on. This is to make sure everyone suffers equally. According to mental_floss, here are 5 VERY expensive speeding tickets:
1) The Crime: In 2002, Anssi Vanjoki, a big-wig at Nokia, was caught on his Harley in Helsinki doing 47mph in a 31mph zone.
The Fine: 116,000 euros, or $103,600
2) The Crime: Jaako Rytsola, a 27-year-old Finnish Internet entrepreneur and newspaper columnist, was nabbed speeding in his BMW, going 43mph in a 25mph zone.
The Fine: $71,400
3) The Crime: In 1999, Keijo Kopra, a managing director at a wood-products company, who had recently started to bank a lot more coin, was driving home for work, cruising about 14mph over the speed limit.
The Fine: An officer wrote him a ticket for $14,500. BUT, Kopra challenged the fine in court and the judge lowered it to $9,000. However, when the police mentioned that Mr. Kopra had received two previous speeding tickets in 1999, and that, based on the income he had claimed at the time, each fine was $750, the judge flipped out and imposed additional fines of $38,000 based on Kopra’s new income.
4) The Crime: Good old Jaako Rytsola again, this time caught zigzagging in downtown Helsinki, in the same BMW, a couple months after his big $71,400 ticket.
The Fine: $44,100 (so that’s $115,500 in one year!)
5) The Crime: In 2004, the heir to a family sausage empire, Jussi Salonoja, was busted in Helsinki for driving 50mph in a 25mph zone.
The Fine: 170,000 euros, or about $204,000! (And that, my friends, is the present record.)
I wonder how well this works? Among the celebrities we have in the US--and the fact they ALL think their shit don't stink--I don't think these fines could be imposed. Besides, there are FAR too many lawyers here in the States and they would tie up the courts for YEARS with each of these. A good idea that I think is totally unworkable in the US--but it would be nice to see implemented.
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