The driver was clocked going 17mph over the speed limit on a street in the Swiss city of Lausanne, and now he's facing more than $110,000 in fines as a result. But he can afford it. Why the eye-popping penalty? Because the speedster, a repeat offender, is one of Switzerland's wealthiest people, and the Vaud canton, or region, serves up fines based on factors like income, fortune, or general family financial situation. The Swiss aren't alone, reports the AP. Germany, France, Austria, and the Nordic countries all issue punishments based on a person's wealth. The recent fine isn't even a record in Switzerland. In 2010, a millionaire Ferrari driver got a ticket equal to about $290,000 for speeding in the eastern canton of St. Gallen.
Back then, Swiss safety group Road Cross said rich drivers had been lightly punished until voters approved a penal law overhaul three years that let judges hand down fines based on personal income and wealth for misdemeanors like speeding and drunk driving. Under today's rules, an indigent person might spend a night in jail instead of a fine, while the wealthiest in the rich Alpine country could be on the hook for tens of thousands. A court in Vaud recently ruled that the tycoon must pay $12,300 up front and could be forced to pay the rest if he's caught for a similar roadway infraction over the next three years.
Switzerland's 24 Heures newspaper said the man was listed by Swiss economic weekly Bilan as one of the 300 richest people in Switzerland, with a fortune in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The daily reported that an automated police radar photographed the offender driving at 48mph in a 31mph zone on a Lausanne street. A spokesperson for the Vaud public prosecutor's office said the defendant didn't contest the decision, which was handed down in June for the infraction in August 2024. The Vaud criminal code sets a maximum financial penalty based on the "personal and economic situation of the offender at the time of the ruling."
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