Norwegian billionaire given US $30,400 drunken driving fine

NorthStar

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? http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/norwegian-billionaire-given-us-30-400-drunken-driving-fine-1.3682132

She's only 22-years old, and very pretty. She was driving drunk, no accident, no one hurt, but she got caught and given a drunk driving fine...$30,000+ ... that's equivalent to the price of a Tesla Model 3.

But read the short article to find out how car drivers are fined in Norway.
She is no ordinary young woman...



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_Andresen
 

NorthStar

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She is a Norwegian billionaire tobacco heiress.
Tobacco is not recommended for your health; it can cause cancer. The industry got away with it, and everyone else just kept puffing.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/...o-heiress-given-38750-drunk-driving-fine.html


Norway has one of Europe’s strictest drink-driving laws. Andresen was three times over the legal limit. Photograph: Thomas Russ Arnestad/Alamy

Look @ their cars...small, cute, good on gas, on electricity, and less parking space needed...so more people can go shopping.
 

astrotoy

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The Norwegians (and I think the Finns and maybe other countries) are serious about drunk driving - the penalties should hurt. For a billionaire a regular fine would be like spare change to the rest of us. I don't see any Teslas in the photo. When we were in Oslo in 2015, there were more Teslas than even in the Bay Area! They do take up a whole parking space, though.

Larry
 

NorthStar

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Larry, are Norwegians big in music and in films? Do they have nice museums, music concert halls, cinema theaters, architecture, ...are they living in a happy country with happy people and less things to worry about? Is it a relax place to breathe, with good air quality?
 
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astrotoy

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Sounds like you have lived in Norway!
 

Al M.

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"Norwegian billionaire given US $30,400 drunken driving fine"

That's at least two zeros at the end too little.
 

mulveling

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Well that's an interesting story, but I strongly disagree with progressive fines -- certainly not to such extremes as in Norway. TIME is the great equalizer; its value weighs much more equally equally across all classes. License suspensions or revocations, probation, compulsory community service, jail time -- these work just fine for that. The elites may not give a crap about a $1000 fine, but they sure will care about the time-based penalties.
 

Al M.

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Well that's an interesting story, but I strongly disagree with progressive fines -- certainly not to such extremes as in Norway. TIME is the great equalizer; its value weighs much more equally equally across all classes. License suspensions or revocations, probation, compulsory community service, jail time -- these work just fine for that. The elites may not give a crap about a $1000 fine, but they sure will care about the time-based penalties.

Problem is only that most rich folk don't do any time, because the system is rigged.

You find $ 30 K extreme? Drunk driving is one of the worst things, a total disregard for human life. No, a $ 3 million fine would just seem appropriate for this sad billion-dollar woman. She can afford it, no problem. And maybe then she will learn something and perhaps, who knows, decide to become a decent and productive member of society.
 

NorthStar

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Sounds like you have lived in Norway!

I've never been to a bar, a pub, a tavern, a strip joint. I have no clue on their national drink...beer, wine, scotch, whiskey, vodka, rum, tequila, cognac, gin, ...
I don't even know if they smoke...tobacco, pot, crack cocaine, ...
I don't know their primary drug of choice...heroin, ecstasy, codeine, caffeine, nicotine, morphine, viagra, ...

I've never been there but they seem to have some real nice country sides, mountains, rivers, ...vistas.
And I'm not sure if they have prisons over there, and where criminals stay.

It is rare that major news develop from Norway, but it sure did happen a couple times in the past.
They have few different ways of operating...the laws, the court system, the rehab system, the police, and the general relaxing way of living in peace.

If I was a pro skier, I would check their slopes...certainly. ...And the food too. ...Plus the piano and violin players.
 

NorthStar

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"Norwegian billionaire given US $30,400 drunken driving fine"

That's at least two zeros at the end too little.

They said that she could be fined $6.2 million! Seems rather harsh to me, like a little too much for driving drunk.
If in America this was happening there would be less booze on our roads. ...But maybe more guns too.
 

ack

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I have a friend permanently paralyzed from the waist down for 25 years now, because a drunk driver tried pulling into her driveway, froze when she saw him coming head on, stopped in the middle of his lane, halfway into her driveway cutting him off, and he smashed onto her side with his motorbike - done for life... So I would say the fines are not only not high enough, they should be pulling their licenses for decades as well, and permanently in case of death due to DUI.
 

ack

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Oh, and that driver did not serve any time and she quickly transferred all her assets to her husband, so my friend could not sue for anything.
 

NorthStar

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Then why they don't do it here? A guy just went to jail recently here for four years, will most likely be released after serving 18 months, for killing a cop with his truck while drunk: • https://lifesafer.ca/blog/rcmp-crash-four-years-impaired-driving-crash/

Who makes the laws and who gave the sentences? Why are they allowing people to drink and drive and kill with such little sentences?
That guy wasn't the first time he was drunk and driving. He had good lawyers, plus a good reason; he was a depressed. Ok, but that's not a reason to kill other people, no?

The other day a military man killed a person while driving drunk:
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-bans-alcohol-okinawa-marine-involved-deadly-crash-2017-11
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...fter-japanese-man-dies-in-crash-idUSKBN1DK0DV
https://www.rt.com/news/410315-us-navy-accident-okinawa/

I don't know if you guys watch the news occasionally sometimes, but this just happened very recently, like yesterday!
Maybe the army has special rights, maybe powerful people have rights above the law, maybe only the real scumbags, poor people, drunk addicts go to jail for few years? I can give you thousands of links where people driving drunk and killing people don't even go to jail, or few months or few years @ most.
Why is that? Just google it, you'll see.
The marine guy, guess what the penalty he'll get?
So, who is the person or the group of people who decide that driving while intoxicated and causing death deserves such small sentences?
Your young 11-year old daughter get killed by a drunk driver, who happened to be an important political figure; he pays a fine, loses his driver's licence for six months, and go to jail for 30 days! We have fatal flaws in our laws. They protect the drunk drivers, and they punish the innocent victims for life.

I mean this is happening every single day in our roads, people drunk and causing fatal accidents.
Some they don''t even go to jail, others just for few months, or few years @ most.
Are we having not enough jails or are we afraid to pay taxes for their imprisonment?
Who was the person making the laws? Who was the people electing him/her? Who control the power to decide what is appropriate and not?

If you drink and drive but without causing an accident, should you pay a fine and lose your job, or go to jail and stay there?
If you drink and drive and cause someone to die, should you lose your driving licence for five years or ten years and perhaps go to jail for two years?

Of course I agree that there should be zero tolerance. Maybe one day someone will wake up before it's too late?
 
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Al M.

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I have a friend permanently paralyzed from the waist down for 25 years now, because a drunk driver tried pulling into her driveway, froze when she saw him coming head on, stopped in the middle of his lane, halfway into her driveway cutting him off, and he smashed onto her side with his motorbike - done for life...

Sorry to hear that.

So I would say the fines are not only not high enough, they should be pulling their licenses for decades as well, and permanently in case of death due to DUI.

Indeed.

And complaining that a measly $ 30,400 is "too progressive" a fine for a deplorable billionaire heiress (who didn't even earn the money) -- gimme a break.
 

Al M.

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From the original link:

Fines for drunken driving in Norway are based on the defendant's income. Newspaper Finansavisen reported that Oslo City Court said the penalty could have been up to 40 million kroner ($4.9 million) if based on Andresen's assets

GOOD!

, but they "have not yielded any dividend yet" and she has no fixed income.

Too bad they didn't follow through.
 

NorthStar

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I have a friend permanently paralyzed from the waist down for 25 years now, because a drunk driver tried pulling into her driveway, froze when she saw him coming head on, stopped in the middle of his lane, halfway into her driveway cutting him off, and he smashed onto her side with his motorbike - done for life... So I would say the fines are not only not high enough, they should be pulling their licenses for decades as well, and permanently in case of death due to DUI.

I 100% agree with you, and I feel truly devastated by what happened to your friend, and that the drunk driver didn't even go to jail.

The system is totally flawed; the victims are suffering for life and the criminals are free to keep drinking and driving.
It's worst than the Chicago mafia, or the Cosa Nostra, or almost even worst than ISIS.
We, as people from planet Earth, use less than 000000000000000000000000000.1% of our brain ... IMHO.
 

PeterA

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Sorry to hear that.



Indeed.

And complaining that a measly $ 30,400 is "too progressive" a fine for a deplorable billionaire heiress (who didn't even earn the money) -- gimme a break.

It seems the fines are based on income, not on assets. This makes it complicated as there are people with high incomes but low assets and others with low incomes and high assets. Perhaps it should simply be based on which ever method of calculation produces the larger fine, sort of like our tax code with the Alternative Minimum Tax. Charge the most you can. The problem with this kind of incentive is that it effects behavior and may have unintended consequences. Of course high penalties are good if incidents of drunk driving go down resulting in fewer injuries. However, outrageous fines may be bad if society becomes too dependent on revenues generated by drunk drivers and other societal ills.

I can see a scenario where the limits that constitute "drunk" driving keep getting lowered because police departments now have an incentive to catch as many drivers as possible to increase their revenues. It could get to the point where one can no longer have one glass of wine with dinner and drive home that night. Suddenly restaurants and bars lose business and close, jobs are lost, people have less fun, etc. Perhaps that is a bit extreme, but I can imagine scenarios were the wealthy are unfairly targeted because they generate more revenue than the average citizen. And some may think that targeting the rich is just fine.

I am sorry to hear about Ack's friend. These kinds of stories are tragic. I think there should be jail time and loss of license and society should do what it can to prevent drunk driving.

Al, are you basing your "deplorable" comment about the young woman solely on the fact that she drove drunk, or that she inherited money from her family, or both? Do you feel that all of one's assets should be seized by the government upon his or her death and that a parent should not be allowed to save any money for his or her children, or do you think there should be limits? If so, how much? Your comment implies that you want to punish this woman, even target her, because she did not earn her wealth. These are the kinds of thoughts that police officers may have when waiting for someone leaving a restaurant after dinner in a really nice car. Thoughts which lead to profiling may or may not be what we want of our law enforcement agencies.

I'm surprised that this young woman did not have a date drive her home in his car. Do they have chauffeurs and Uber in Norway?
 

NorthStar

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mulveling

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Man, some of this thinking is nuts. It's one thing if she actually hurts someone. THEN we can get the lawsuits and lawyers and millions of dollars involved. But she didn't. So a flat fine plus a time penalty is reasonable. Suspension of license, OK. Absolutely, more severe jail time should be doled out for obscene recklessness, like severe inebriation and/or extreme speeding. But there's a LOT of gray area around the 0.08 intoxicated level. $30K for that? At some point you guys should just advocate to ban all driving, then nobody would get hurt for sure!

And what if a broke kid does the same thing she did? What should he get penalized? The $10 and small baggie of weed in his pocket, and serve soup for 2 weekends? And that's OK to equate to a $3 million fine for her? Hmm...vastly different penalties for the same crime depending on who you are... seems like that might violate some kind of rights the constitution affords citizens in America. And that's a lot of power for local officials to yield! I'm sure those $$$$ "they can afford it" fines won't be misappropriated. I'm sure this power will never be used inappropriately.
 
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NorthStar

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In her case the law was followed, the Norwegian law.

In the cases here in America where people are killed; the drunk drivers are getting away with murder. The laws are protecting them.
The justice system here says that you can drink and drive and kill others for a small penalty, perhaps few years in jail...@ the most, other times no jail @ all!

We should have similar laws as in Norway; sending the message that if you want to drink and drive, get a ride from someone else not drunk, or a cab, or your dad, or your friend, or your wife, or your uncle Bob.

"This guy lost his entire family...all dead...wife, two daughters, and a newborn baby boy to a drunk driver.
The drunk driver got five years in jail, a fine, an infraction ticket, and a suspension of his licence driver for five years.
He should be out of jail after serving less than 24 months for good behavior and sincere regrets; he said he won't do it never anymore...he learned his lesson and he converted to Jesus while in jail...through the jail's church. Simply put he is a new reborn convert, and not a convict. All he's asking for is forgiveness and a second chance @ proving that he can drive not drunk."

Each case is fairly analysed by the court system on the basis of how good the drunk driver truly is, beneath it all.

If you think what I just said is too much, or is sarcastic a little, or is not what reality is...you are correct just a little. It is even worst than that.

Methinks that if you get caught driving while intoxicated or stoned, you must pay the price. But it just doesn't happen in our society here in America.
They wait till your car is @ fault, and it kills someone before blaming you of drinking and driving. Then if you are really unlucky, you might get five to ten years in jail and be out in two to four. The dead people them, they'll be dead for 30, 40, 60, 120, 1,000, 1,000,000 billion years, for eternity, without parole, without a second chance @ life, because their voices have been cut shortly by a drunk driver, and the children of the dead Mom or Dad will live the rest of their lives without Mom or Dad. Or, Dad or Mom will live without their beloved children...for life.

You take a life, you give a life...hard labour so that our taxes are not wasted. Something gets built; a bridge, a wall, a pipeline, a garden of vegetables, anything good for an advancing society...a chain gang work effort to build a bigger and taller and longer China Wall. ...By all convicted drunk driver killers.

If I was the elected school principal that's how I would run my district. Zero alcohol tolerance, not even when boating, and flying.
 

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