What we want is for no one to drive dangerously. To discourage this, we give tickets for speeding.
For rich people, the fine doesn't mean anything to them because it is not enough money to matter, so they have no incentive to stop speeding. They keep speeding, putting everyone in danger.
The point of a fine (at least for something like speeding) is to discourage the behavior. If you want the DISCOURAGEMENT to be equal (because a rich person speeding is just as dangerous to other drivers as a poor person speeding, so we want to discourage them equally), then the fine needs to vary based on how wealthy the driver is.
The discouragement is "demerits on your license"[1] which go toward revoking it. Hence why you don't see rich people speeding around all the time even though the they can afford to pay the fines - they don't want to lose their license.
I think it might help to flip the argument on its head. If you are a low income person struggling to make ends meet - should you have to forego a meal or two ? Is it fair if a richer person does not have to do the same ? All things considered I’d bet you the higher wealth person still has the less impactful fine.
It's not like speeding tickets are inevitable. I've been driving for over 17 years and I've never been pulled over once (knock on wood). But sure, I don't mind proportional speeding tickets (I never get them), but I think it's a slippery slope of socialism where you start thinking everything should have proportional costs. Why should rich and poor both pay $3 for a gallon milk? Shouldn't the rich pay $30 for a gallon of milk? Heck, they are so out of touch with food costs anyway they probably wouldn't notice.[1]
People make mistakes and exhibit wreckless behavior every once in a while. Unlike milk, the value of a ticket is not set by markets. It is a financial instrument used to discourage behavior. It's really not too dissimilar to a tax. We already have all kinds of progressive taxes - this really isn't much different.
> a rich person speeding is just as dangerous to other drivers as a poor person speeding
this is probably not true. if you look at accident statistics, you'll notice that more expensive, newer cars tend to get into significantly fewer accidents per mile. rich people can afford more capable vehicles and they can afford to maintain them properly.
What we want is for no one to drive dangerously. To discourage this, we give tickets for speeding.
For rich people, the fine doesn't mean anything to them because it is not enough money to matter, so they have no incentive to stop speeding. They keep speeding, putting everyone in danger.
The point of a fine (at least for something like speeding) is to discourage the behavior. If you want the DISCOURAGEMENT to be equal (because a rich person speeding is just as dangerous to other drivers as a poor person speeding, so we want to discourage them equally), then the fine needs to vary based on how wealthy the driver is.