I’m in agreement that we need systemic solutions, and those involve improving road design, so we agree for the most part on the most important aspect of this.
punishing people for being successful.
But issuing bigger fines for breaking the law is very, VERY far from punishing people for being successful. It’s a correction of an unfortunate truth: if you’re wealthy, you can afford to drive recklessly.
Unscaled fines punish people for being poor, because the punishment is a larger percentage of their disposable income.
Why should a poor person pay a fine of 30% of their monthly take home, while a rich enough person pays 5% (or less?) of their take home for the same infraction.
The only fair solution is for the fine to amount to an equal percent of your take home pay. Then it is the same punishment for everyone.
I’m in agreement that we need systemic solutions, and those involve improving road design, so we agree for the most part on the most important aspect of this.
But issuing bigger fines for breaking the law is very, VERY far from punishing people for being successful. It’s a correction of an unfortunate truth: if you’re wealthy, you can afford to drive recklessly.
Unscaled fines punish people for being poor, because the punishment is a larger percentage of their disposable income.
Why should a poor person pay a fine of 30% of their monthly take home, while a rich enough person pays 5% (or less?) of their take home for the same infraction.
The only fair solution is for the fine to amount to an equal percent of your take home pay. Then it is the same punishment for everyone.
Indeed I don’t disagree, I think it’s worth experimenting with this and driving fines look like a good place to start