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posted by n1 on Monday April 14 2014, @09:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the rules-are-made-to-be-broken dept.

Alex Mayyasi writes that a close look at the cars outside Silicon Valley's venture capital firms reveals that the cars share a mysterious detail: they nearly all have a custom license plate frame that reads, "Member. 11-99 Foundation" which is the charitable organization that supports California Highway Patrol officers and their families in times of crisis. Donors receive one license plate as part of a $2,500 "Classic" level donation, or two as part of a bronze, silver, or gold level donation of $5,000, $10,000, or $25,000. Rumor has it, according to Mayyasi, that the license plate frames come with a lucrative return on investment. As one member of a Mercedes-Benz owners community wrote online back in 2002: "I have the ultimate speeding ticket solution. I paid $1800 for a lifetime membership into the 11-99 foundation. My only goal was to get the infamous 'get out of jail' free license plate frame."

The 11-99 Foundation has sold license plate frames for most of its 32 year existence, and drivers have been aware of the potential benefits since at least the late 1990s. But attention to the issue in 2006-2008 led the foundation to stop giving out the frames. An article in the LA Times asked "Can Drivers Buy CHP Leniency?" and began by describing a young man zipping around traffic including a police cruiser and telling the Times that he believed his 11-99 frames kept him from receiving a ticket. But the decision was almost irrelevant to another thriving market: the production and sale of fake 11-99 license plate frames. But wait the CHP 11-99 Foundation also gives out membership cards to big donors. "Unless you have the I.D. in hand when (not if) I stop you," says one cop, "no love will be shown."

[Editor's Note: I would also like to draw attention to a transport story that came out today.]

The BBC reports:

A rail union has claimed a hedge fund manager was able to "buy silence" after he repaid £42,550 in unpaid fares to Southeastern - but remained anonymous and avoided court action.

On Twitter, blogger Martin Shovel wrote: "Biggest rail fare dodger in history avoids prosecution because he's rich enough to pay back what he owed #OneLaw"

 
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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday April 15 2014, @12:20AM

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday April 15 2014, @12:20AM (#31580) Journal

    Nonsense.

    People should be treated equally for equal offenses.
    10mph over the limit by a rich person is the same offense as 10mph over the limit by a poor person.
    Fines represents the cost to society as a whole for bad behavior. It costs no more for a rich person to drive too fast than a poor person.

    Where did you get the cockamamie idea that equality of outcome is what society guarantees?

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday April 15 2014, @01:50AM

    by sjames (2882) on Tuesday April 15 2014, @01:50AM (#31617) Journal

    No, fines are by definition punitive/deterrent in nature. You're thinking of reparations which has nothing to do with a fine.

  • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday April 15 2014, @02:46AM

    by Reziac (2489) on Tuesday April 15 2014, @02:46AM (#31634) Homepage

    While I agree in principle, the way these fines are used does disproportionately penalize those least able to pay. A speeding ticket might be, say, $200... but in some court systems that's not quite how it works. It's the ticket, plus various costs and fees which at least in Los Angeles County, can amount to up to 8 times the value of the ticket. And then you're dinged points on your license, which makes your insurance go up. And the end result is more people taking the risk of driving without insurance, because someone making $1500/month can't afford $400/mo. for insurance.

    No, I don't think justice should be applied differently according to your means... but in our zeal to show how tough we are on such offenses, usually by increasing the fines, the system of financial punishment has gone beyond the means of average people.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 15 2014, @11:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 15 2014, @11:46AM (#31745)

    10mph over the limit by a rich person is the same offense as 10mph over the limit by a poor person.

    So let's give them the same fine; 10% of their monthly income.