Mental Floss

5 Really, Really Expensive Speeding Tickets

By David K. Israel

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What's the most expensive speeding ticket you've ever gotten? What's the craziest ticket you've ever received? Drop a comment and let us know. But I doubt they could approach the following, unless you were pulled over in Finland, where the punishment definitely fits the crime. Speeding tickets, for instance, are based not only on how fast you're going when you get nabbed, but on your net income!

This way, those who make millions have to suffer just as much as those just making the ends meet. Here are five examples of some pretty hefty tickets:

1. The Crime: In 2002, Anssi Vanjoki, a big-wig at Nokia, was caught on his Harley in Helsinki doing 47mph in a 31mph zone. The Fine: 116,000 euros, or $103,600!

2. The Crime: Jaako Rytsola, a 27-year-old Finnish Internet entrepreneur and newspaper columnist, was nabbed speeding in his BMW, going 43mph in a 25mph zone. The Fine: $71,400

3. The Crime: In 1999, Keijo Kopra, a managing director at a wood-products company, who had recently started to bank a lot more coin, was driving home for work, cruising about 14mph over the speed limit. The Fine: An officer wrote him a ticket for $14,500. BUT, Kopra challenged the fine in court and the judge lowered it to $9,000. However, when the police mentioned that Mr. Kopra had received two previous speeding tickets in 1999, and that, based on the income he had claimed at the time, each fine was $750, the judge flipped out and imposed additional fines of $38,000 based on Kopra's new income.

4. The Crime: Good old Jaako Rytsola again, this time caught zigzagging in downtown Helsinki, in the same BMW, a couple months after his big $71,400 ticket. The Fine: $44,100 (so that's $115,500 in one year!)

5. The Crime: In 2004, the heir to a family sausage empire, Jussi Salonoja, (that's his name, not the empire's name. But doesn't he SOUND like a type of sausage??), was busted in Helsinki for driving 50mph in a 25mph zone. The Fine: 170,000 euros, or about $204,000! (And that, my friends, is the present record.)