In Norway, driving fines are linked to monthly income, and in some cases overall wealth. That means that the more you earn, the higher the amount you are fined. The idea behind this is that the penalty should 'hurt' the same for everyone, which is difficult to achieve when financial positions of individuals are so different.
This article talks of a Norwegian billionaire who was fined 25,000 euros (about 42,000 New Zealand dollars or 40,000 Australian) for a drink driving offence. It also talks of other European countries such as Finland who have a similar system in place, the UK (where fines can be income dependant but capped at a certain limit) and Ireland who are considering introducing it.
At Fleetcoach we aren't the biggest fans of punishments when it comes to learning, but we do agree that if a penalty is going to be meaningful, we need to take wider context into account.
What do you think? Should we introduce means-tested fines in Australasia? We'd love to know what you think. You can read the full article here.
