New fines a bit rich for some!

Caught speeding in his fancy sports car on the way to a fight, the world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson, was pulled over by a highway patrol officer and told to pay an on-the-spot fine of $50.

Johnson, so the story goes, gave the officer $100 and told him to keep the change as he planned on doing the exactly the same on the way back!

It’s an amusing story but highlights just how the rich and famous can often see themselves as being above the law. If money’s no object then financial fines become irrelevant.

Which is why new rules brought in to penalise those who speed excessively on our roads should be welcomed.

Under sentencing guidelines to be introduced this April, those caught speeding will not be issued a fixed fine, but they will be charged a per centage of their weekly wage. The more you earn, the more you’re fined.

For those who see speed cameras as a stealth tax on the ordinary punter, this new fining system - that favours neither the rich or poor - should be reassured.

Except, magistrates have been directed to cap these fines at £1,000 on ordinary roads and £2,500 on motorways!

While we welcome moves to increase fines for those who commit serious speeding offences, why should the well-off be spared equivalent fines?

There’s a school of thought that the rich are the ones most likely to possess the fastest cars and therefore most likely to break the speed limit. They are also, given their greater wealth, less likely to be put off by relatively small fines.

Those who argue there’s one rule for the rich and one for the poor, have their point proved in this case.