$7000 Speeding Ticket
MonsieurEvil
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Ouch...</div> <a href='http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20040211IE5' target='_blank'>http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20040211IE5</a>
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Helsinki police hand out record speeding fine</b>
Vexed question of income-linked fines crosses international news threshold
The chances are you already know this. Needless to say, the wire services sent the story - featured yesterday on the front page of the late-edition tabloid Iltalehti - at breakneck speed, and it is now all over the That's Life pages of the world's newspapers, complete with "Flying Finn" and "Finelandia" clichés.
The facts are that Helsinki police handed out a speeding fine totalling EUR 170,000 last Thursday to 27-year-old Jussi Salonoja, heir to a Finnish family foodstuffs fortune. Salonoja was clocked doing around 80 km/hour in a 40 km/hour limit zone in the capital.
The fine is based on Finland's income-related system of fines for speeding and certain other traffic offences. Salonoja received upwards of 20 "day-fines" for his heavy right foot and for "endangering traffic safety". Given that his net income according to the Finnish tax authorities was around EUR 7 million, the police had little alternative but to write out a fine of EUR 6,000 per "day".
The speeding fine is convincingly the largest ever handed out in this country, and probably anywhere else in the world. It will in due course go forward to be approved by prosecutors at Helsinki District Court.
This is not Mr. Salonoja's first expensive brush with the traffic police radar. He was clocked driving at 200 kilometres an hour down a motorway (speed limit 120 km/hour) in August 2000. On that occasion he received a fine of around EUR 39,000, again based on income and "day fines".
At that time his net income was a good deal smaller, but the number of days calculated was greater, since the offence was more serious. Salonoja admitted that he had been overdoing it, and he agreed to pay up immediately.
There is every chance that this latest fine will ultimately be smaller when the time comes to pay it.
When such matters have gone to court, a number of defendants have proved that there have been changes in their declared incomes between the latest set of tax figures and the time of the offence. Windfall profits and options revenue tend to inflate incomes, and in the volatile economic climate, they can also deflate them.
One recent case in point was the Nokia executive and motorcycle enthusiast Anssi Vanjoki, who saw his colossal EUR 115,000 fine reduced to just under EUR 6,000.
It does not always work quite as smoothly, however. Former dotcom millionaire Jaakko Rytsölä had a fine of EUR 50,000 reduced in court to little more than EUR 100, but an Appeals Court ruling hiked it back up again to EUR 16,000.
One interesting factoid to note is that in another late-edition tabloid's online vox-pop study today, only a slender majority (55%) of respondents seemed to regard the fine as excessive.
This would appear to bear out the previous response to other large fines, including that levied on a bona fide Finnish sporting icon, NHL star Teemu Selänne.
The subject of record-breaking traffic fines has been dealt with here on several occasions. Links to earlier stories are given below. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Dang, and I thought the $150 fines in North Carolina were bad... ^_^
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Helsinki police hand out record speeding fine</b>
Vexed question of income-linked fines crosses international news threshold
The chances are you already know this. Needless to say, the wire services sent the story - featured yesterday on the front page of the late-edition tabloid Iltalehti - at breakneck speed, and it is now all over the That's Life pages of the world's newspapers, complete with "Flying Finn" and "Finelandia" clichés.
The facts are that Helsinki police handed out a speeding fine totalling EUR 170,000 last Thursday to 27-year-old Jussi Salonoja, heir to a Finnish family foodstuffs fortune. Salonoja was clocked doing around 80 km/hour in a 40 km/hour limit zone in the capital.
The fine is based on Finland's income-related system of fines for speeding and certain other traffic offences. Salonoja received upwards of 20 "day-fines" for his heavy right foot and for "endangering traffic safety". Given that his net income according to the Finnish tax authorities was around EUR 7 million, the police had little alternative but to write out a fine of EUR 6,000 per "day".
The speeding fine is convincingly the largest ever handed out in this country, and probably anywhere else in the world. It will in due course go forward to be approved by prosecutors at Helsinki District Court.
This is not Mr. Salonoja's first expensive brush with the traffic police radar. He was clocked driving at 200 kilometres an hour down a motorway (speed limit 120 km/hour) in August 2000. On that occasion he received a fine of around EUR 39,000, again based on income and "day fines".
At that time his net income was a good deal smaller, but the number of days calculated was greater, since the offence was more serious. Salonoja admitted that he had been overdoing it, and he agreed to pay up immediately.
There is every chance that this latest fine will ultimately be smaller when the time comes to pay it.
When such matters have gone to court, a number of defendants have proved that there have been changes in their declared incomes between the latest set of tax figures and the time of the offence. Windfall profits and options revenue tend to inflate incomes, and in the volatile economic climate, they can also deflate them.
One recent case in point was the Nokia executive and motorcycle enthusiast Anssi Vanjoki, who saw his colossal EUR 115,000 fine reduced to just under EUR 6,000.
It does not always work quite as smoothly, however. Former dotcom millionaire Jaakko Rytsölä had a fine of EUR 50,000 reduced in court to little more than EUR 100, but an Appeals Court ruling hiked it back up again to EUR 16,000.
One interesting factoid to note is that in another late-edition tabloid's online vox-pop study today, only a slender majority (55%) of respondents seemed to regard the fine as excessive.
This would appear to bear out the previous response to other large fines, including that levied on a bona fide Finnish sporting icon, NHL star Teemu Selänne.
The subject of record-breaking traffic fines has been dealt with here on several occasions. Links to earlier stories are given below. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Dang, and I thought the $150 fines in North Carolina were bad... ^_^
Comments
factoid? <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
thank god i don't have a car.
<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Bite your tongue.
I am of two minds on this topic. On one hand, a $150 fine is nothing to someone who makes upwards of $150k/year but for those of us in the real working class even a $100 fine puts a pinch on our pocketbooks.
I do not feel that income proportional tickets would be legal here, as the amount of money someone makes is not a factor in the infraction.
BTW, where do you live MonsE?
factoid? <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
those muscles that make squeeze your butt cheeks!!
Damn
Gonna get meself a OLd Mini Cooper, how english <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
LOng live our Queen. (ill give 7 year) (max)