The Most Expensive Speeding Ticket

Speeding. Everybody does it, some more often than others. But we know that when we do speed we risk driving by a police car with a radar gun and an officer ready to write a ticket. And we know that speeding tickets are expensive – starting at $118 and going all the way up to $443 if you’re caught doing 20 over in a school zone. (In case you’re curious, here’s a list of the traffic fines for Hillsborough County.) And not only do you face the fine, you can also get points on your license that will jack up your insurance rates when it’s time to renew. Pricey.

But while Florida’s fines for speeding may seem like a lot of money (don’t get me wrong – they are), they pale in comparison to a speeding ticket a man in Finland got for doing 64 in a 50 mile-per-hour zone.

The fine? 54,000 Euros, or $58,601.88 at today’s exchange rate.

The reason for the huge fine? Because Finland ties the amount of a speeding ticket to the speeder’s income, and he reported an annual income in the $6-7 million range.

The amazing thing is that this wasn’t the biggest speeding fine in Finland’s history. In 2002 an executive with Nokia was hit with a fine of 116,000 Euros ($125885.52) for speeding on his Harley.

So stay safe out there, and if you do get a speeding ticket at least be glad that you don’t live in Finland.