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How much is a speeding fine? Well, how much you got? That could be the future, if a proposal put forward by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is written into law.
The RSA wants Ireland to follow Sweden, Finland, Germany and Austria by linking the amount you pay for a speeding ticket to be linked to your earnings. In most of the Scandinavian countries, the split is 50:50 - half the ticket is a nominal amount and the other half is means-tested. Such a system has recently lead to one speeding ticket in Finland costing a driver more than €54,000 - but in fairness, he was a multi-millionaire.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Moyagh Murdock, Chief Executive of the State agency, said that the fixed €80 fine for speeding "should be changed to a graduated system where the severity of the offence was matched with a higher fine with ability to pay also taken into consideration. I have been looking at some of the states that have been hitting drivers in their pocket - €80 is nothing to someone who is driving a Range Rover or similar type vehicle," Ms Murdock said.
The proposal also includes a new system of graduated basic fines, as the RSA reckons that it is unfair that someone vastly in excess of the limit pays the same fine as some caught going 5km/h over the limit.
Critics of the proposal have pointed out that it effectively ends the commonly held rule whereby all citizens are considered equal under the law, and that it could actually end up encouraging the wealthier to speed as they'll assume that they can afford the extra cost of the fine.