Businessman In Finland Faces $130K Speeding Fine Due To The Progressive Penalty System, Sparks Massive Discussion Online
The old legend about Robin Hood says that a ‘noble robber’ took money and goods from the rich, and then distributed them to the poor. The state machine in many modern countries pretends to act pretty much the same way. We usually call it a ‘progressive tax system’, although the question is not only related to taxes, but also, for example, traffic tickets.
It is believed that the world record for the heftiest speeding ticket was set in 2010 when a Swedish driver accelerated his sports car to 290 mph and had to fork out $1M and the car was confiscated by the police. A recent similar case in Finland, of course, did not reach the record, but became the reason for a new heated debate online.
Businessman from Finland got recently caught speeding around 2o mph over limit
Image credits: Michael Coghlan (not the actual photo)
Anders Wiklöf, a 76 Y.O. businessman from the Åland Islands in Finland, was stopped by traffic police a few days ago while driving around 50 mph as the limit was no more than 30 mph. The driver admitted that the road sign limiting the maximum speed from 43 to 30 mph appeared quite unexpectedly, so he simply did not have time to slow down. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident. But the remarkable thing, as you probably understand, was not that at all.
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Finland has a traffic ticket system based particularly on the offender’s daily disposable income
For many years, Finland has had a specific and rather complex system of traffic fines, based not only on the severity of the incident and the presence of relapses in the offender, but also on the level of their daily disposable income, generally considered to be half their daily net income. Any police officer has access to the centralized tax service database, so that the system literally in a few seconds issues its decision on the size of the fine.
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It just so happens that Mr. Wiklöf is the founder and chairman of a €350m-a-year (~ $376) holding company. The man is one of the richest people in the region, and, for example, the Wiklöf Holding Arena, the main sports facility of Maarianhamina, the capital of Åland, bears his name. As you may understand, the offender is quite a rich person, so the amount of the fine was already assumed to be rather hefty.
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This was the third time the offender has been caught speeding so he has to fork out €121K now
An aggravating circumstance here was that in ten years, this was the third time that Wiklöf had exceeded the speed limit. In 2013, he received a fine of €63,680 (~ $68.5K), and five years later the speed-loving businessman had to fork out €95K (~ $102K). As a result, the amount of the new fine was €121K (~ $130K), and this is definitely one of the top ten largest traffic tickets world history has ever known.
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On the other hand, the violator became poorer by an amount that is equal to about half of his two-week income. In addition, Wiklöf’s driving license was suspended for 10 days. In an interview with the local newspaper Nya Åland, the millionaire admitted that he regrets what happened. “I had just started slowing down, but I guess that didn’t happen fast enough. It’s how it goes,” he said. Well, let’s hope that Mr. Wiklöf tries not to speed in the future…
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The previous ‘national record’ in Finland was set in 2002 and amounted to no less than €116K
By the way, the previous ‘national record’ for the ticket amount was set more than twenty years ago. In 2002 Anssi Vanjoki, a top Nokia executive, faced a €116K ticket (~ $124.8K) after being caught driving his Harley-Davidson 46 mph in a 30 mph speed limit zone. Just in that year, when another Finn, Markus Grönholm, became world rally champion, and Mika Hakkinen was the reigning ‘king’ of Formula 1. Yes, Finland has given the world some really outstanding racers…
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People in the comments are of split opinions whether this system is fair or it provides some kind of indulgence for rich people
And seriously, this news caused quite a heated discussion on Twitter – not so much about speed limits, but about the fairness of the Finnish system for calculating traffic tickets. Some of the commenters speak out in support of the existing rules, while others believe that this is nothing more than just ‘punishing people for being successful’. “Fines are basically fees to break the law. If it’s proportional to income, then everyone has the same financial incentive to follow it,” some of the folks in the comments tweeted. And you know, it really begs lots of questions… What do you, our dear readers, think about it?
Most interesting thing is the comments. A number of people seem to think he's being punished just for being rich, as if he hadn't committed a crime.
Yeah, and ignoring the fact that for people with a lot of income or wealth a regular fine can feel negligible enough that it simply becomes the cost of doing the thing they want do. If you’re paying a traffic fine it’s because you did something you shouldn’t have, and it should feel like punishment. 🤷
For poor people this same ticket would’ve been a few hundred euros. I’m a Finn, and he is nicknamed ”The King of Åland”, he is really that wealthy and powerful. He must’ve had an astronomical income last year to get that high fine. If he drove less than 20 km/h over the speed limit, he would’ve gotten 70-200 euro traffic ticket, no matter his income. But because he was going 32 km/h over speed limit, which is kind of huge overspeeding at 50km/h, he got fined(as opposed to a traffic ticket) and had to pay according to his income. And this was the third time in 5 years he got a massive speed fines. Many European countries have adopted this system from Finland. In 2010, some swedish millionaire got speeding ticket of over 1million euros in Switzerland.
20 mph is not reckless endangerment? What? 20 mph is around 30 kmh people! In Germany for example it is not allowed to drive more than 50 kmh (~30 mph) in a town/ city. If you would drive 20 mph more, you would be driving 80 kmh. That would be a heavy fine no matter how poor or rich you are. I‘m not sure, but I think you might even loose your license. 30 kmh not being much. I just can‘t wrap my head around your stupidity The original Bruno.
Yeah I don't know what he's talking about either. The only thing I could find was Virginia raised it from 65 to 70. And going over 15mph the speed limit IS a crime, it's literally a felony.
It's not technically a crime. Might sound like nitpicking but (most) traffic offenses aren't crimes. As for the article, I don't mind the idea of a sliding scale for the fines, but I'd hope the lowest level of offense (typically 5km or less over the speed limit) isn't a huge fine like that. The reason being 3 or 4 over the limit is often accidental, whereas 20+ over the limit is usually a deliberate act.
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I like the notion that to deter wealthy people from violating the law, fines have to be more expensive. But to be clear, speeding isn't a crime, unless it's so fast that it constitutes reckless endangerment. And 20 MPH over the speed limit is NOT reckless endangerment. (There was a weird situation in Virginia, where they increased highway speed limits from 55 to 65 to 75 MPH, and never amended the reckless-endangerment law which was 90 MPH.)
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I’m making 80 US dollars for every hr. to finish some internet providers from home. I absolutely never thought it would try and be reachable anyway. My comrade mate got $13k just in about a month effectively doing this best task and furthermore she persuaded me to profit. Look at additional subtleties going to this article..__________ https://onlinesite76.blogspot.com/
We have this in the UK. if you can't afford the fine don't do the crime! Which he can, so he did. Ha. It's like rich people who will also park anywhere as they can afford the parking fine. They don't care.
Right? The one comment that was all, "imagine being punished for being successful." Um, no. He was punished for breaking the law. It just so happens that he was successful, which is why his fine sounds astronomically high to those of us who are not millionaires.
Those people don't want to see the truth. A common fee is indeed a punishment... for the poor. For the rich it's not even worth a thought. Rich people don't even get remotely inconvenienced by usual fines. It's money they burn for a single meal while others pay the same for one month worth of groceries. So making it relative to income ensures that it has the desired effect: punishment for wrongdoing and making you think hard if you do it again. The funny thing is, the Finnish millionaire who got the fine though it was fair and apologised. So there's that
This makes me think of how companies will deliberately break the law like if there's a defect in their product that will actually kill people because their profit will be billions of dollars while the eventual lawsuit will be a few hundred million.
Exactly! If you can afford to own a Ferrari then you probably don't need to worry about some £60 fine. Hit them where it hurts. In the pocket.
The way I think about it is that the fine for speeding should be really high. The reason it's lower in most places is so the poorer people can actually pay it without going bankrupt. This leaves the rich viewing it as "the price for speeding". Which they can easily pay, like paying for a parking space. So, in reality, the rich are paying a fair price, it's the poorer people that are getting a lower price so they can afford to pay it.
I completely agree. I think it's nice for a change, to see a law that might actually make them think twice about committing the same act repeatedly. Especially the younger members of wealthy families who have positions due to nepotism and money. We've seen many times when those youths break the laws and have virtually no consequences. It's nice to have a law in place that ensures that there's a consequence for their actions. An $100- $170 tickets for speeding mean nothing to people like that but give them a $50,000- $90,000 ticket and that has some teeth. They're going to notice that ticket.
He already had 98000 and 67000 fines in the past few years 🤷🏻♀️
So clearly they still weren't enough
I agree. If the fine isn't proportional to income it isn't an effective deterrent. Rich people will just park everywhere or do some casual speeding because they don't feel the consequences. A 200€ (or whatever) fine is a cheap price for them to do what they want. It's like paying a miniscule amount of money to be above the law. Just because you are successful or have lots of money doesn't mean you shouldn't be punished for breaking laws. This guy wasn't punished for being successful, he was punished for speeding, same way as everyone else would. He can afford that fine. But if it wouldn't hurt his pocket it wouldn't be a punishment.
I think it should be coupled with frequent patrols or speed cameras, too. I have a cousin who is broke most of the time, she definitely couldn't afford any fines, but she just loved to put the pedal to the metal... She got caught like once or twice in fifteen years, it taught her nothing. What finally got her to stop was a bad car accident where she and her kid (!!) had to spend serious time in the hospital and there were fears of permanent disabilities.
The system here in Finland goes like this: equal to or under 20km/h over speed limit, you get a traffic ticket of 70-200 euros. Over 20km/h over speeding limit, you get fined. Fines for that kind of overspeeding is maximum of 20 day-fines, which means he had to pay 20 days or less of his net income. His gross income every year is over 5 million euros.
Most interesting thing is the comments. A number of people seem to think he's being punished just for being rich, as if he hadn't committed a crime.
Yeah, and ignoring the fact that for people with a lot of income or wealth a regular fine can feel negligible enough that it simply becomes the cost of doing the thing they want do. If you’re paying a traffic fine it’s because you did something you shouldn’t have, and it should feel like punishment. 🤷
For poor people this same ticket would’ve been a few hundred euros. I’m a Finn, and he is nicknamed ”The King of Åland”, he is really that wealthy and powerful. He must’ve had an astronomical income last year to get that high fine. If he drove less than 20 km/h over the speed limit, he would’ve gotten 70-200 euro traffic ticket, no matter his income. But because he was going 32 km/h over speed limit, which is kind of huge overspeeding at 50km/h, he got fined(as opposed to a traffic ticket) and had to pay according to his income. And this was the third time in 5 years he got a massive speed fines. Many European countries have adopted this system from Finland. In 2010, some swedish millionaire got speeding ticket of over 1million euros in Switzerland.
20 mph is not reckless endangerment? What? 20 mph is around 30 kmh people! In Germany for example it is not allowed to drive more than 50 kmh (~30 mph) in a town/ city. If you would drive 20 mph more, you would be driving 80 kmh. That would be a heavy fine no matter how poor or rich you are. I‘m not sure, but I think you might even loose your license. 30 kmh not being much. I just can‘t wrap my head around your stupidity The original Bruno.
Yeah I don't know what he's talking about either. The only thing I could find was Virginia raised it from 65 to 70. And going over 15mph the speed limit IS a crime, it's literally a felony.
It's not technically a crime. Might sound like nitpicking but (most) traffic offenses aren't crimes. As for the article, I don't mind the idea of a sliding scale for the fines, but I'd hope the lowest level of offense (typically 5km or less over the speed limit) isn't a huge fine like that. The reason being 3 or 4 over the limit is often accidental, whereas 20+ over the limit is usually a deliberate act.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I like the notion that to deter wealthy people from violating the law, fines have to be more expensive. But to be clear, speeding isn't a crime, unless it's so fast that it constitutes reckless endangerment. And 20 MPH over the speed limit is NOT reckless endangerment. (There was a weird situation in Virginia, where they increased highway speed limits from 55 to 65 to 75 MPH, and never amended the reckless-endangerment law which was 90 MPH.)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I’m making 80 US dollars for every hr. to finish some internet providers from home. I absolutely never thought it would try and be reachable anyway. My comrade mate got $13k just in about a month effectively doing this best task and furthermore she persuaded me to profit. Look at additional subtleties going to this article..__________ https://onlinesite76.blogspot.com/
We have this in the UK. if you can't afford the fine don't do the crime! Which he can, so he did. Ha. It's like rich people who will also park anywhere as they can afford the parking fine. They don't care.
Right? The one comment that was all, "imagine being punished for being successful." Um, no. He was punished for breaking the law. It just so happens that he was successful, which is why his fine sounds astronomically high to those of us who are not millionaires.
Those people don't want to see the truth. A common fee is indeed a punishment... for the poor. For the rich it's not even worth a thought. Rich people don't even get remotely inconvenienced by usual fines. It's money they burn for a single meal while others pay the same for one month worth of groceries. So making it relative to income ensures that it has the desired effect: punishment for wrongdoing and making you think hard if you do it again. The funny thing is, the Finnish millionaire who got the fine though it was fair and apologised. So there's that
This makes me think of how companies will deliberately break the law like if there's a defect in their product that will actually kill people because their profit will be billions of dollars while the eventual lawsuit will be a few hundred million.
Exactly! If you can afford to own a Ferrari then you probably don't need to worry about some £60 fine. Hit them where it hurts. In the pocket.
The way I think about it is that the fine for speeding should be really high. The reason it's lower in most places is so the poorer people can actually pay it without going bankrupt. This leaves the rich viewing it as "the price for speeding". Which they can easily pay, like paying for a parking space. So, in reality, the rich are paying a fair price, it's the poorer people that are getting a lower price so they can afford to pay it.
I completely agree. I think it's nice for a change, to see a law that might actually make them think twice about committing the same act repeatedly. Especially the younger members of wealthy families who have positions due to nepotism and money. We've seen many times when those youths break the laws and have virtually no consequences. It's nice to have a law in place that ensures that there's a consequence for their actions. An $100- $170 tickets for speeding mean nothing to people like that but give them a $50,000- $90,000 ticket and that has some teeth. They're going to notice that ticket.
He already had 98000 and 67000 fines in the past few years 🤷🏻♀️
So clearly they still weren't enough
I agree. If the fine isn't proportional to income it isn't an effective deterrent. Rich people will just park everywhere or do some casual speeding because they don't feel the consequences. A 200€ (or whatever) fine is a cheap price for them to do what they want. It's like paying a miniscule amount of money to be above the law. Just because you are successful or have lots of money doesn't mean you shouldn't be punished for breaking laws. This guy wasn't punished for being successful, he was punished for speeding, same way as everyone else would. He can afford that fine. But if it wouldn't hurt his pocket it wouldn't be a punishment.
I think it should be coupled with frequent patrols or speed cameras, too. I have a cousin who is broke most of the time, she definitely couldn't afford any fines, but she just loved to put the pedal to the metal... She got caught like once or twice in fifteen years, it taught her nothing. What finally got her to stop was a bad car accident where she and her kid (!!) had to spend serious time in the hospital and there were fears of permanent disabilities.
The system here in Finland goes like this: equal to or under 20km/h over speed limit, you get a traffic ticket of 70-200 euros. Over 20km/h over speeding limit, you get fined. Fines for that kind of overspeeding is maximum of 20 day-fines, which means he had to pay 20 days or less of his net income. His gross income every year is over 5 million euros.