Canadian Joy Rider Takes BMW for a Spin, gets Caught going 240km/h - 150mph

[Bartek S.]

An unnamed 20-year old man in a BMW (reportedly an SUV model) was arrested by police in Montreal on Saturday for driving 240 km/h or 150 mph on the A-720 highway in a 70 km/h or 44 mph speed zone. And here's where the story gets a bit more interesting as not only is this one of the worst cases of speeding in the country's history, but according to the police, the BMW did not belong to the young man. Some Canadian newspapers are even suggesting the man may have been a hotel valet that took the car for a late night spin on the highway.

The Montreal Gazette said local police "would neither confirm nor deny reports" he was a valet at a downtown Montreal hotel, and that he was taking out a guest's BMW for a joyride
Sgt. Guy Lapointe of the Quebec provincial police told The Star, "The only thing that I can tell you is that there have been no reports of a theft of the vehicle that was pulled over". CBC reported that the police said "the car has now been returned to its owner".
Hotel valet or not, the joy rider's "need for speed" earned him a hefty CA$2,598 (equal to about US$2,623 or €1,932) fine and 42 demerit points, which means he loses his license for at least six months.
Canadian Joy Rider Takes BMW for a Spin, gets Caught going 240km/h - 150mph - Carscoop

 

[Padi]

And when dad drives 50 km/h in 30 zone he gets a 3000€ fine

 

[Giannis]

And when dad drives 50 km/h in 30 zone he gets a 3000€ fine

If I am not mistaken, the fines in Finnland are based on your income?

 

[Padi]

If I am not mistaken, the fines in Finnland are based on your income?

Yeah, so stupid IMO

 

[Giannis]

Yeah, so stupid IMO

It's certainly not stupid. I'll give you an example:

In Greece, where the fines are fixed and not related to your annual income, the fine for driving more than 20km/h over the speed limit is 350€. With a basic salary of 700€ (592€ for people under 21), the fine equals half of a guys salary, if he's payed the basic (lowest possible) salary. Yet, for someone that makes 200.000€ a year, 350€ is nothing and he can brake the speed limit as many times as he wants. Yet, for someone that is payed the basic salary, one fine and he's ruined. It should cost the rich man, half of his monthly income. So that both the poor and the rich man, are treated the same by the law.

So, in my opinion, fixed fines are stupid

 

[Mr Robert]

Oh, this is interesting! Fixed fines or fimes based on income... here in Sweden we have fixed fines but we have solved the problem of the bad, horrible people who work hard and make a lot of money by a sort of security valve, whereas when you reach a certain number of tickets, you have your licence taken away.

Problem is, some people are immune to fines, and for some reason, those are the most common guests at our courts. That is why I think fines based in income is unfair, the only ones who are hit by it are decent, hard working people.

We could, as food for thought, play with the idea of determining the time a person should spend in prison for a crime, based on his or her income or, maybe, age. An old person has typically much less life left and should thereby get a much shorter sentence than a teenager. Another example could be an unemployed person. He or she has a lot of spare time, compared to the neighbour with a high income and should therefore serve couple of years more.

In theory, that is...