I stumbled on a BBC article from 2002 while reading something else forgettable this morning. When I read this, though, I thought to myself how much less jaded people would be overall if we adopted a similar structure here in the US.
Anssi Vanjoki, 44, has been ordered to pay a fine of 116,000 euros ($103,600) after being caught breaking the speed limit on his Harley Davidson motorbike in the capital, Helsinki, in October last year.
Harley Davidson motorbike
Mr Vanjoki is a Harley Davidson enthusiast
Police say he was driving at 75 km/h (47 mph) in a 50km/h (31 mph) zone.In Finland, traffic fines are proportionate to the latest available data on an offender’s income.
I could likely count the number of people who don’t take our current traffic violation system as a giant revenue generator for local governments on one hand. If we had this kind of system, two things would happen. First, violations would likely drop because the punishment is actually significant. And second, people might begin to feel the system is less corrupt overall.
But here in the heart of capitalism, this would never fly, so we don’t have to worry.