More honest?
Traffic fines should be determined differently, many Dutch people believe. At least that is what research shows Radar. For example, there is a lot of support for income-related fines.
Everyone has an opinion about traffic fines. Even if you (almost) never get one, you will probably find some of the fines to be reasonable. Some fines do not seem to be high enough, while others may be somewhat exaggerated. An ideal situation never arises, but the Avrotros program still wanted it Radar sometimes see what people would like to change. A test panel consisting of more than 27,000 people was interviewed for this purpose.
A little more and more
It turns out that there is quite a bit of support for income-related fines. This does happen in some countries and here in the Netherlands there are also quite a few people who are willing to encourage it. No fewer than 43 percent think it is a good idea that the amount of a traffic fine depends on your income.
Furthermore, according to Radar, it is striking that many people would think it would be a good thing if the amount of a fine depended on how often you get into trouble. According to three-quarters of people, for a minor violation, three-quarters of people should first receive a warning and not immediately (as happens fully automatically with speed cameras, for example) a fine if someone has not driven too fast before. However, as many as 90 percent of respondents believe, the fine should continue to increase for repeated violations.
Absurd fines
Perhaps less relevant, but still interesting: people from the test panel were also asked about the most absurd fines they ever received. This reveals some striking examples. For example, someone received a €86 fine for parking for two minutes too long, someone received a €139 fine for entering a street that turned out to be closed after a certain time and someone else received a €195 fine for driving 3 km/h too fast. Sometimes these are fines that are not the result of an action in traffic. For example, someone says: “A vintage moped that had been insured for years turned out to no longer be insured after my divorce. The insurance was paid too late and the vehicle was not insured for ten days. €340 fine. And after increases, €999…”
What do you think, should fines become income-related? And is it a good idea to start with a warning and then a slightly higher fine? Let me know in the comments.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl