Tailgating in the United States is a practice we see all too often these days. However, in Switzerland such things aren’t tolerated, with one man who tailgated another driver while behind the wheel of a BMW 540d getting hit with a $110,000 fine.
A motorcycle rider was found 12 hours after crashing off the interstate in Wisconsin.
The irony is the fine is for almost twice what the Bimmer sold for brand new, so some are interpreting that as excessive. What they might not realize is the Swiss government is dead serious about enforcing traffic laws to the point that the European nation is notorious.
Adding to the irony of the situation is the fact the tailgater is himself an attorney. He was cited for tailgating someone else while traveling on the A1 roadway in Zurich. His bank account is now significantly lighter.
Why the lawyer got hit with a six-figure fine for tailgating has to do with the graduated fine system in Switzerland. How much someone has to pay for road offenses is determined by that person’s income. In other words, the attorney makes a lot of money, so the only way for him to feel the sting of the fine is to make it larger than what others might pay.
Here in the US, fines for tailgating can amount to as much as a few hundred dollars, depending on the state where you’re driving. There are those who say the wealthy will view such fines as so minimal they will just do whatever they want. Apparently, the Swiss government subscribes to that theory.
But we see a lot of people in junker cars tailgating around here. If those people have lower incomes yet will risk a fine that for them is much harder to handle than for someone like a wealthy attorney, do the graduated fines really work? That’s a topic that’s certainly up for debate.
Source: Luxury Launches
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