• TDCN
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1.49K
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    In Denmark we have the lovely new law that if you drive more than 100% over the speed limit and over 100 kmh or drive over 200 kmh at all or drunk driving with over 2‰ they confiscate the car and you are not getting it back at all. They confiscate the car regadles of who owns the car (with very few exceptions) and that is also if it is leased. So far since when the law started they have confiscated over 2000 cars in two years. It’s my favourite law of all laws right now. The fine for driving crazy is also nicely proportional to your income and it removes the car so the person cannot just drive without license afterwards.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I can’t get behind property seizure without compensation, but I can understand everything else.

      Even if they said “you can’t have this car any more, but can sell it from our facility” that’d be better I think

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        28
        ·
        1 year ago

        Normally me neither, bit in this context where you are driving so recklessly you are endangering everyone else and we are talking over double the speed limit I’ll allow it. Noone has any rights left when you are doing that kind of stuff deliberately.

        • AGTMADCAT :verified:@infosec.exchange
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @TDCN @GBU_28 In a country like Denmark where it’s unlikely that having a car vs. not is the difference between living indoors and dying on the street I can see this working okay. I don’t think it would translate well to a country like the US where as well as killing the poor generally it would also be heavily exploited by the police to kill minorities.

          I hope in Denmark there’s a very high standard of evidence which the police have to present so they can’t just lie about the speeds they observe?

        • JB@mastodon.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @TDCN @GBU_28 i’m genuinely missing how the state keeping the car versus giving it back to the leasing agency is a reasonable choice. Why does the owner of the car, if it is not the violator, get to get fucked by this?

          • TDCN
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            28
            ·
            1 year ago

            As I wrote to someone else my reasoning is this. It puts the responsibility into the hands of the car owner. Just replace the word car with gun and it all sounds reasonable. If I just lend my gun to a friend who I only know very little or I have never seen hold a gun in his hand that would be very bad. Or if a company leases big guns that are super dangerous. Even if he has a license for guns. And if he shot someone or broke the law in other ways with the gun I’d only expect the gun to be confiscated regardless of who owns it.

          • IIVQ@mapstodon.space
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            @jbsegal @TDCN @GBU_28 There are a lot of leasing agencies (small backalley operations) that exist for exactly this cause: leasing cars to speeders and criminals, so they don’t own anything that can be confiscated. This law will stop those businesses.
            Bona Fide leasing agencies will just have contract clauses with an employer as a warrantee against the cost of a car when someone drives reckless, or speed limiters installed.
            Why would anyone need a car that can do 100km/h over the speed limit?

            • JB@mastodon.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              @jamesjm @TDCN @GBU_28 this presumes a: the perpetrator has compensation they can pay to the car owner, B: that the car owner can deal without the car, or without the compensation, for the length of time it takes to get the lawsuit processed and paid out. This is not fair to the owner. Punish the fuck out of the perpetrator, sure. Don’t fuck the car owner.

              • JB@mastodon.sdf.org
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                @antipode77 @revk @TDCN @GBU_28 Does the accused’s elderly parent, who doesn’t know what they get up to, but who needs the car for some reason or another have any? If, after due process it can be shown that they reasonably SHOULD’VE known? Ok, maybe. Before that? Nope.

              • RevK :verified_r:@toot.me.uk
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                @GBU_28 @TDCN @jbsegal @antipode77 just to check. Are you saying it should be valid to impose legal penalty on innocent companies because they are not human? (That is before considering whether the owners and employees of companies that may suffer from a penalty have “human rights”).

                • antipode77@mastodon.nl
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  @revk @GBU_28 @TDCN @jbsegal

                  A company is not able to be guilty or innocent.

                  A company is a legal construct consisting of a group of humans taking decisions on behalf of a collective we call a company.

                  As such the decision makers are in the end guilty or innocent. Therefore they are the ones the law must hold accountable for what the company did or did not do.

                  When guilty these persons must go to prison or pay significant fines.
                  The company itself must be fined for the damage they did.

            • JB@mastodon.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              @nortix @TDCN @GBU_28 forcing the owner to deal with the court system, and to be without a car for however long this takes seems extremely unfair to me. And potentially seriously damaging, if they rely on their car for something. Punish the fuck out of the perpetrator, but if it is not their car you don’t get to take it away from the person who owns it.

      • threedaymonk@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        In effect, is it really that different to a fine? It seems to have a couple of advantages, though: it’s easier to collect, and it’s proportional, so a person who can afford a fancy luxury car pays more than someone in an old banger, without the complexity of having to evaluate their income and savings.

        • TDCN
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          32
          ·
          1 year ago

          This is exactly the reason they are doing it. Proportional to income and the car is completely and physically removed from the road. There was a big issue here where the offender would just drive without license or the car was leased or borrowed so there was no real penalty. Now the leasing company would have to take responsibility for leasing fancy supercars to anyone and everyone and people lending their car to a known drunk or fast driver would definitely think twice.

          • Jeppe Øland@sfba.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            @TDCN

            That part is all good. The problem is they don’t care whose car it is. If I was to borrow your car, and then break this law, then YOU are out a car. Yes, you can try and get the money back from me, but that might take a decade if I don’t have money to replace your car.
            If you ask me, that’s crazy.

            • TDCN
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              14
              ·
              1 year ago

              Well I agree it might be a bit crazy, but I also must admit that I like the law because it works and it makes it such that I don’t want to lend my car out to anyone unless I know for sure how they drive by driving with them a few times. It puts the responsibility into the hands of the car owner. Just replace the word car with gun and it all sounds reasonable. If I just lend my gun to a friend who I only know very little or I have never seen hold a gun in his hand that would be very bad. Even if he has a license for guns. And if he shot someone or broke the law in other ways with the gun I’d only expect the gun to be confiscated regardless of who owns it.

              • Sheean Spoel@hachyderm.io
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                @TDCN @joland here in the Netherlands the fine for a traffic violation is already up to the owner to sort out. They don’t give AF who drove the car. Your car. Your responsibility. Your problem.

              • Alfred M. Szmidt@mastodon.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                @TDCN @joland replacing car with gun or riffle makes it even more absurd. You saying that if I lend a riffle to someone on a hunt, I should bear the consequences for their actions if they miss and hit something? Thankfully the law in rest of Scandinavia isn’t as insane…

                • TDCN
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  There’s a significant difference between an accident and deliberately being wrekless

                  • Alfred M. Szmidt@mastodon.social
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    @TDCN There is nothing about being “wreckless” when borrowing something to someone else. If person has a valid driving license that is all that matters. We ain’t even taking about lending a car to a obviously drunk idiot which is punishable.

            • NiceMicro@fosstodon.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              @joland @TDCN yeah but if you borrow your car to someone they could also just total it in an accident and die, and in that case they also won’t be able to give it back to you and you definitely won’t get paid for the car.

              This is just one more reason to not borrow your car to people you don’t trust 100%.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Totally agree, which I said in my comment.

          But owning property is owning it outright. You don’t own it at the whim of someone else.

          I in general do not agree with government seizure of property without compensation.

          I agree with losing your license, losing the privilege to drive and use public roads, etc.

      • rus@layer8.space
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @GBU_28 @TDCN this is basically an income adjusted fine for breaking the law in egregious ways. Are you also opposed to fines for other bad behavior?

        I also appreciate that it gets more people thinking about ways to move without a car. that is more doable in Denmark then in the US, but cars are dangerous, and if you put other at risk so casually I have little sympathy.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          For the sake of conversation, let’s consider some other owned object. I’m grasping here but say you had your computer seized for anti government speech. (I know, not the same as endangering people with a car).

          It wouldn’t be right to lose a multi thousand dollar device simply because the government willed it. Certainly not without compensation.

          • rus@layer8.space
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            1 year ago

            @GBU_28 skip any example that doesn’t routinely involve the single biggest cause of child death in the US. There is no reason for a person to be exceeding the speed limit by double. That’s just gambling with others life and limb.

            I think a multi-thousand dollar, income adjusted fine should be the minimum in that case.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              The point is I selected an example that had no relation to cars or driving, and no safety context.

              The point of the example was ownership, and dealings with the government.

              Critical thinking 101

              I made clear in earlier comments that I’m aware driving is a privilege and reckless driving is a serious crime

        • TDCN
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          It also makes people think twice before lending their car to any random friend

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Where did I say consequences shouldn’t exist? Massive ones?

          You have the reading comprehension of a child

      • Morten Grøftehauge@sigmoid.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @GBU_28 @TDCN It’s a fine imposed on the vehicle owner.
        Tbh, I think this was instituted after the “fines proportional with income” because drug dealers had fast cars but no official income and were among the most likely to drive extremely recklessly. And they don’t necessarily officially own their own car.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Sorry I won’t budge on property rights.

          Driving is a privilege, and the government can absolutely bar you from using public services (roads) but ownership is a serious thing to me

      • Joe@mastodon.nz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @GBU_28 @TDCN, really??
        You happily can endanger other people’s lives but can’t have your means to do so taken away?
        Same for CEOs of companies going bankrupt: you can take away others livelihood by your decisions but nobody can touch your hording.
        That sounds like rich person’s privilege syndrome!

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          My dude, I said take the car away! Fine them! Take the driving privileges! Just pay them for their property or allow them to sell it!

          Man you can’t hold more.thwn one thought at a time huh

      • Crisps@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        As long as it then goes swiftly through the court system to confirm this. Otherwise it is theft, like US asset forfeiture.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Why are you @'ing everyone? You replied, we will see it.

          Leases are not ownership

      • :thilo:@fromm.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @GBU_28 @TDCN Think of the car as a “dual use” item - i.e. you can use it as transport or to (potentially) get other people injured or killed.

        The law aims at the second (mis)use. Even though I’m a car-loving German I really second that part of the Danish law and I honestly wish we would have something similar.

      • BrianKrebs@infosec.exchange
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @GBU_28 @TDCN I can get behind a law like this in the states. Too many drunk drivers who kill have had close calls before and were able to get back in their cars and do it over and over. Auction the car and any $ from that should be deemed a fine.

        • jnbhlr@toot.bike
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @briankrebs @GBU_28 @TDCN in germany we had cases in front of the court where the truck driver killed f a second time and still got a punishment that was essentially telling him he didn’t do anything severly wrong.

        • hwyaden@toot.wales
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @briankrebs @GBU_28 @TDCN We finally got rid of civil forfeiture. Thank goodness. It was such a corrupting incentive to police forces. It works on the first case, and then it is just abused by municipalities to line everyone’s pocket.

      • @GBU_28
        We often have the discussion whether it is an instrument for murder.
        So going insanely fast, often within city limits, is considered in comparison to planned homocide.

        So why should they hand out the potential weapon, just because you missed someone?

        Furthermore we have issues of companies renting out overly powerful cars, so some tourists can go crazy on our autobahn in a Ferrari.
        IMHO this business model is insane and this is a valid way to stop it.

        Would love this in De.

        @TDCN

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Lol thank for letting me know. That’s definitely interesting. I ditched Reddit so don’t really care for karma farmers. They could at least have linked to my original post but it’s Reddit after all so what can you expect. Funny it gets reposted back to lemmy

    • Adam@mastodon.me.uk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 I’ll be honest I think it’s an an odd stance to take to say confiscation is wrong. The 100 kmh limit is about 60 mph, to be over 100% that means the limit is 30 mph. This limit is normally through a town, village or urban area. So if someone drives at 60 mph down the high street, that’s not just a “little bit of speeding”, that’s completely reckless

    • AlexanderMars@mastodon.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 unfortunately, police in the US have a great deal of leeway in how and when they enforce laws like this. I’m sure some wealthy individuals would get punished, but as is often the case over here, non-whites would probably be disproportionately represented as they already are with civil forfeitures. Conversely, I am all for the drivers of White BMW/AUDI SUVs having their cars seized and crushed, you know who you are.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        If you have a 20kmh zone it sounds unreasonable to get your car taken if you drive only 40 kmh. 40 is still quite slow

        • Jesse@aus.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @TDCN @acs 5 out of 5 pedestrians will survive a collision with a car traveling at 20km/hr, only 4 out of 5 will survive a collision with a car traveling at 40km/h.
          This doesn’t include the large difference in level of injury.

          So by speeding your taking a situation where nobody should die and making it a situation where someone might.

          A 20km/h area is an area where there will be lots of people to hit so it’s even more important to stick to the speed limit in that situation

          • Adrian@mastodon.scot
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            @jessta @TDCN 20kph is also the extreme end of the scale. The figures get even worse if you are going at 80 in a 40 zone, only 1 person in 4 will survive that.

            • Jesse@aus.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              @acs @TDCN Ideally it shouldn’t be possible to actually go 80km/h in a 40km/hr area, at least not without immediately crashing your car.

          • TDCN
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            You still get a massive fine of 1200 kr (175usd) in this case at 20kmh and at only 30% above you get a “cut in your license” (like a yellow card in football). 3 of those “cuts” and you have to get a new licens. 60% above the limit they outright take your licens and the fine goes up. If the speed limit is reduced due to road work the fine is doubled. And many more rules. If you are a student or pensioner you fine gets halfed for instance. Besides the fine if you go at 60% or above you also need to pay 500kr or more to a “victims” fond that raises money for the victims of traffic accidents.

      • seemaedel@norden.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @EikeLeidgens @TDCN @Showroom7561 I also doubt that the part of the law that allows the car to be confiscated if the owner wasn’t the driver would survive a trial at the Bundesverfassungsgericht. I understand why they are doing it that way in Denmark but think it goes over the top. Someone who isn’t guilty shouldn’t be punished.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Oh you be dead if you walk on a bike lane 😅☠️

    • Dustin D. Wind@mastodon.cloud
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 Rich person drives 240kmh drunk out of their mind, loses expensive car, gets another the next day because it’s still just pocket change to them.

      Boyfriend “borrows” the old-but-working car of his abused girlfriend who’s barely making it paycheck to paycheck, drives 110kph, her car gets seized and she now has no hope of escape.

      An extreme comparison? Yes. But it illustrates that nice simple one-size-fits-all laws often have abhorrent results.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I forgot to also add that they obviously don’t just take the car from the owner as the only thing with this kind of offence (obviously, otherwise it’ll be a dumb law). On top there’s a huge fine for the driver and they take your lisence and you are banned from driving for X amount of years. You have to pay for a completely new drivers license which is really expensive but mire importantly really time-consuming in Denmark we are talking weeks of training and mandatory tests, first aid exam and hours of theory and practical lessons. There are payments to a fond that raises money for traffic victims and possibly jail time if you drove exceptionally wreklessly or drunk. Even if you are rich this is not just “pocket money” there’s more context than you think.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        There are exemptions in the law for this exact matter. It states of the punishment is unreasonably hard on the owner they can get it back

        • Dustin D. Wind@mastodon.cloud
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @TDCN I envy you for having reason to believe that’s how things actually work most of the time. Here in the United Empire of Profit not nearly so many people believe that any more, because (as with “if you’re innocent and can’t afford a lawyer you’ll get equal justice from a public defender”) there are so many counter-examples to demonstrate that’s not how things actually work in practice.

    • Paris Lord@mastodon.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 This sounds terrific. Do you have a link to that law please. (In Danish is fine). I want to use it as an example for discussion leading up to my city’s elections next year. It will upset the many car brains who run my city. 😀

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not a single law to say but changes to the existing law so the actual writing is spread out over a few paragraphs. Here’s a link for the entire traffic law LINK Start at §119 about confiscation and §133 about offences that causes you to loose your licens. The details can be a bit difficult to sift out. It’s law stuff I guess.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I just tried looking uh up and it’s still too early to say. Of course the car lobby ar criticising the law and asking why they are not year concluding anything yet but to be fair it has just been covid and 2 years is just so short to see any impact to the statistics. In my own opinion I think it must work. It’s a specific type of people who drive wreklessly and often in groups of “cool guys”. If you start to remove cars from those groups they will be more hesitant to lend each other cars. If they get impacted the story will carry more impact than a massive fine. A car is very a physical object and is more visible than a debt. If a dad find his son drove wreklessly and got the car confiscated it wil be a stronger lesson for both the father and the son. I can be unfair but we have tried fines for so long and it has not worked. We already have the some of the biggest fines for traffic violations in the world.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s probably the exceptions I mentioned. I’m no expert, bit of be unreasonable to the owner if the car was stolen.

    • wink@sup.f5n.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN But naively, isn’t this also some sort of “never let a friend borrow your car”? Wouldn’t that encourage middle-class people who don’t own a car because they can sometimes borrow one to just buy one now? I suppose this is a miniscule percentage, but still. (Disclaimer: Am German, currently I have no car of my own, and averaged like 1 speeding ticket per 7 years of driving)

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Maybe it will, but good second hand cars are not that difficult to get hold of. But people still lend eachother their cars, but I guess in suirtain groups of people where driving super fast is “cool” they’ll be more hesitant which is good because then the law is working

        • wink@sup.f5n.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @TDCN Yeah don’t get me wrong, I think it will probably a net positive and I definitely would wish for harsher penalties here… but I can simply imagine a lot of “false positives” that could end catastrophically.

          E.g. basically everyone here has a story where at a construction site on a highway/country road the signage was horrible and they breezed through the temporary 30/50 zone with the normal 100/120, just because there are no real rules. You can have a limit to any arbitrary number on the unlimited stretches of the highway, so there’s no “oh, construction zone, this must be 50 now”, no it could be any of: 100,80,70,60,50,40,30.

          • TDCN
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Signage is suuuuper well here so no excuses at all for this sorry. And if you can prove the signs are wrong I guess you can take it up in court.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t understand what you mean, of course they work and then if its high they verify with a blod sample to verify and to give you the benefit of the doubt

    • oo@mastodon.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 Perfect timing, netherlands is planning a law to ban cash transaction over 3000 so you both just meet in germany and voila cheap cars for the cartells and you have regular traffic laws, so people stay in denmark.

    • mike805@noc.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 So if it is leased, do they sell the car and pay off the lease? Or do you have to pay for insurance that covers the lease holder if this happens? I guarantee you the banks that finance leases are not just eating that.

      Here in the USA it is almost routine for the drunk who finally causes a fatal accident to have six DUIs, a .15 BAC, and a revoked license at the time of the mishap.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Tbh I have no idea how it works in practice but I’d assume the leasing companies will just pass on the cost to the offender

        • @TDCN @mike805

          I think in the US, car leasing is more common than in Europe.

          it also looks like to me that it is more acceptable to put someone in jail for a prolonged period of time even for minor offenses, than to confiscate material stuff for similar offenses.

          • mike805@noc.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            @elCelio @TDCN This is true when it comes to car type violations. You can easily get yourself jailed for unpaid traffic tickets or street racing. It’s just about guaranteed for DUI - there are a lot of anti-DUI pressure groups. But you will still have the car when you get out and lots of people drive without a license. That gets you jailed too, but in large parts of the USA not having a license is basically house arrest anyway.

            Drug and money offenses get property seized. Especially cash.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Nope, doesn’t work like that here. We don’t have constitutions the way you do on the US. Many cases have been tried in court and the offender lost in many cases

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I do t agree on the crushing aspect of this law. It’s environmental iresponsibil and stupid. Just sell/auktion the car and spend the money on making better traffic safety

    • PadreWil@mastodon.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 We have to do something in Amer. about this terrible problem. The laws we have now are pretty tough, but these morons who like to drink and drive just AREN’T getting it. Think Denmark is too tough ? Ask the families of the dead victims that have been murdered by drunk drivers !! This crap has got to stop !!

    • James Evans@mastodonapp.uk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN Solid plan. Property seizure as an outcome of breaking the law seems completely reasonable in these circumstances, in the same way other items used to commission crimes of violence would be confiscated.

    • Stahlbrandt@infosec.exchange
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 The law seems inspired by the Swiss. They have had proportional fines for long (e.g. I recall the wealthy Finn racing in CH in his sports car and had to pay a fortune). Car removal is probably common in CH as well.

        • @stahlbrandt @TDCN @Showroom7561

          UK has speeding fines partly proportional to income (albeit with maximum of about £1500 or £2000, so still not a deterrent to superrich) and strong penalties for DUI (min 12 months driving ban + fine and 11 years of higher insurance premiums), but vehicles are only confiscated (usually temporarily) for Section 59 offences which normally involve deliberate anti-social driving (doughnuts, drifting, making noise in public areas with illegal exhaust mods) >>

          • @stahlbrandt @TDCN @Showroom7561

            the problem with 20mph zones in some parts of UK is resources aren’t always put into enforcement; which requires either “boots on the ground” and/or cameras - both aren’t cheap and they are often in middle class residential areas where folk get paranoid about any CCTV camera; even if it is clearly there for traffic enforcement purposes…

              • @mike805 @stahlbrandt @TDCN @Showroom7561

                in England most of these areas are far from sudden, there are plenty of prominent speed limit signs. Also cops aren’t allowed to directly keep the revenue from speed camera fines, they go to a “road safety partnership” which is a mix of public sector organisations; and are reinvested in road safety measures. in a well designed 20mph (or 30mph) zone there are usually other physical traffic calming measures such as road narrowing, bollards etc

                • bhtooefr@snack.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  @vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de @mike805@noc.social @stahlbrandt@infosec.exchange @TDCN@feddit.dk @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca yeah, speed traps are something very different from an area that should have a low speed limit.

                  so the classical form of speed trap in the US is a small town along a state or US route - not many people live there, there’s not much of an economy at all (the one nearest me doesn’t have any grocery store, even, you have to go a few miles to the next town over), but they have a well-staffed police department, and they may or may not have decent public services for the few people and businesses that are there. this is because the police department’s job is to bring money into the town, from traffic offenses. they don’t keep all of it, but because they, not the tax department, are the primary revenue source for the town, they get what they want. to maximize revenue, they have to induce offenses.

                  usually this means a couple strategies: speed limit reductions that are more severe than expected or in places that they’re not expected, and trying to hide the speed limit signs (behind overgrown tree branches is a common strategy). in my state, the typical way you enter a municipality is, you reduce from the 55 MPH speed limit that most 2-lane rural roads use, to 35 MPH at the municipal limits which typically coincide with where things get built up, and 25 MPH in downtown or on residential side streets. a common speed trap pattern is to have the village limits far away from where things get built up, and drop the speed limit to 25 MPH at the limits (or, more insidiously, post 55 MPH at the village limit sign which overrides the 35 MPH default within municipal limits, then drop it to 25 a bit later. bonus points if the 25 MPH sign is hidden. and you know there’s a cop hiding right after that.)

                  there was actually an extreme case of that in my state where a speed trap town’s entire government was one family that also ran the police department and the village traffic court, and the police department was doing classic bastard shit like pulling people over, smashing their tail light with a baton, and then ticketing them for the tail light being broken. they were also doing shit like calling in false police chases to the highway patrol, and it actually got to the point where the highway patrol publicly said they wouldn’t continue any chases that this village’s police started, as long as you were down to the speed limit by the time you got out of village limits. IIRC the state ended up passing laws to make that village illegal, and then dissolved it.

                  • bhtooefr@snack.social
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    @vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca @TDCN@feddit.dk @mike805@noc.social @stahlbrandt@infosec.exchange also there’s the whole thing with cameras in the US, which could be a great tool to improve safety (as a band-aid until infrastructure can be fixed)

                    problem is that most of them are privately-run, the private company collects the fine and kicks back a portion to the municipality, and the private company expects a return on their investment, and the municipality is asked to ensure that there’s enough offenses to justify the camera. this means that dangerous road designs that encourage excessive speed become desirable, and things like yellow light timing are reduced to legal minimums (or in some cases, below legal minimums) to encourage red light running. (IIRC what ends up happening in US municipalities that deploy privatized cameras, is that T-bone crashes and fatalities do actually go down, but rear-end crashes go up significantly because of people going for sudden full brake applications on yellow lights to try to avoid a fine, due to how short the yellows are.)

                    (the solution here isn’t to get rid of cameras necessarily, it’s to prohibit private ownership and fine collection from the cameras, and to direct revenue properly to avoid perverse incentives.)

                  • mike805@noc.social
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    @bhtooefr @TDCN @stahlbrandt @Showroom7561 @vfrmedia You had small town abuses like that where they were planting weed and seizing cars too. Small towns can get absurdly corrupt because only a few people control everything and they all know each other. This was the original purpose of the FBI before it too got corrupted by DC politics.

              • @meijerjt @stahlbrandt @TDCN @Showroom7561

                in many parts of England we do have speed reducing layouts (for both 20 and 30 mph roads) such as road narrowing with pedestrian refuges every few hundred metres, and most 20mph streets have parked cars either side.

                Even so, there are still those sociopathic motorists who will flout the limits, some even see it as a “protest” similar to environment activists but from the other side. Maybe UK has more of these than other Northern European countries?

    • Kevin Karhan :verified:@mstdn.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 Personally, I think banning.someone from driving hurts them harder than loosing a vehicle, as one can’t just get a new driving license - the loophole that allowed one to just make a new license in another EU member state has been closed for those barred from (re)issue of a license.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Trust me they are still banned from driving for a year or more if this law triggeres

        • Kevin Karhan :verified:@mstdn.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          @TDCN that’s quite low.

          People speeding 100% over limit usually get barred for life from attaining any permit unless they get medically certified to be able to drive.

          And even then they’d likely not face charges for speeding alone but literally charges for attempted homicide by gross neglect and recklessness.

          I mean if one’s driving like 100km/h on regular city roads they don’t just loose their license but face serious jailtime.

          And I think that’s more than justified.

          • TDCN
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I said “or more” because I don’t know the details. Depending on what you did you can get banned for much longer or even face jail time if it’s very severe. It’s individual and depends on the offence

          • Kevin Karhan :verified:@mstdn.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            @TDCN Like there’s difference between “driving fast” and "being an antisocial asshole and seemingly wanting to commit vehicular assault against any random person that happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

    • Benton Greene@spacey.space
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 I really like this law in principle, but without *free* rehab, or really any other drug recovery assistance, and without a good social safety net, it does inordinately punish poor people. Yes, if the person is a rich asshole, 300% take *all* their cars. But sometimes the person is poor and using alcohol to just feel less shitty about their life and need the car to be able to have a job. Not that that’s good, but it *is* a reason to not take their car…

        • Benton Greene@spacey.space
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @kytkosaurus @TDCN @Showroom7561 and in Denmark, this is an excellent law! In the US, it absolutely isn’t. But people see it working (I assume?) in Denmark and think “yeah,we should do that here!” and don’t think about the disparate consequences for poor people in places where a car isn’t just a commodity but a prerequisite for living on par with (and arguably more so) a house or apartment that often people can’t afford to replace once lost.

          • Kytkosaurus@mastodon.online
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            @neonregent @TDCN @Showroom7561 True. Although any place, where it is necessary to own a car to get work is in deep problems and should immediately think about how it got into this stupid situation and how to get from it as quickly as possible.

            It will make them much more livable and bring an important part of freedom to their citizens.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Also… Just drive the speed limit and noone takes your car away from you

    • Nick Lockwood@mastodon.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 like most fines, this just makes it legal for rich folk and potentially life-destroying for poor folk.

      If this happens to a taxi driver, they might end up homeless. If it happens to a rich playboy they’ll just go buy a new car and carry on speeding.

      • TDCN
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        The taxi driver could also… Just hear me out… Drive the speed limit and not drive like a maniac. Then he’s fine and noone takes his car.

        • Nick Lockwood@mastodon.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          @TDCN sure, unless it was the car owner’s friend, or kid, or crack addict neighbour who took their car and then committed the crime.

          Regardless, the issue is not whether crimes should be punished, but whether it makes sense to have punishments that only affect the poor.

          • TDCN
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Just don’t lend the car out to anyone you don’t fully trust. Take responsibility of your vehicle and make it clear to the borrower that he/she should drive properly regardles of that being your mom or your best friend. If the car is taken without your consent it’s theft and grounds for the exceptions in the law so you get it back.

              • TDCN
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                Okay hers the thing. It’s naive to think that it’s just “nothing” for rich people. You have to take the rest of the law into consideration. They obviously don’t just take the car from the owner as the only thing with this kind of extream offence (obviously, otherwise it’ll be a dumb law). On top there’s a huge (and I mean huge) fine for the driver and they take your lisence and you are completely banned from driving for X amount of years. After the ban you have to pay for a completely new drivers license which is really expensive but more importantly really time-consuming in Denmark. We are talking weeks of training and mandatory tests, first aid exam and hours of theory and practical lessons. There are payments to a fond that raises money for traffic victims and for multiple offenses or if you drove exceptionally wreklessly there’s possibly jail time. Even if you are rich this is not just “pocket money” there’s more context than you think.

          • Jesse@aus.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            @nicklockwood @TDCN @Showroom7561 no, it’s just politically impossible to mandate speed limiters. Governments tried 50yrs ago and haven’t tried again since. Car manufacturers want people to know they can speed. It’s all over their marketing.

            • Nick Lockwood@mastodon.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              @jessta @TDCN @Showroom7561 if they really wanted to they could use the traffic camera network that already tracks numbers plates to do average speed checks on every car and issue fines automatically. I suspect they don’t because then traffic would grind to a halt.

              • TDCN
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                Why would it grind to a haltm I see no reason for this. People just need to drive the speed limit. In Norway for example they have cameras at the begining of long stretches of highway and a camera at the end and if your average speed is higher than allowed it automatically sends you a fine. Those stretches of road are soooo nice to drive because everyone are driving the same speed and it’s so smooth

    • clay shentrup 🌐🚲@mastodon.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      @TDCN @Showroom7561 it obviously shouldn’t be proportional to your income, it should be set to the actual negative externality cost. this is a failure to understand basic economics. If we can save more statistical lives with the money from the tax then the statistical expected loss, then we want these people speeding and paying for it.