It's the end of the year. (Also for the police)
Hello everyone,
First of all sorry for this late publication. I was so busy that I completely forgot about this post I was writing...
It's December, the end of the year, Christmas and new years Eve is right around the corner so it's time to celebrate.
At least as long as you be carefull. For the police it's also the end of the year.
What I'm trying to say is that they have a minimum amount of fines they have to give every year (the Dutch police that is. I don't know how this goes for other country's but let me know in the comments)
But this means that they are going to be stricter when the 31st comes closer.
And ofcource they go for the easy way to reach their quotum.
In my oppinion they start fining just to reach their quota instead of improving safety.
For example, I was riding my bike to work (yes we dutchies love our bikes) and I got stopped by the police, who was hidden underneath a bridge that I had to pass, because I was biking without lights.
I got fined EUR 55. And then they even dear to add EUR 9 administration fee.
So I got fined a total of EUR 64 for biking to work.
Sure I didn't have my lights on and yes they were supposed to be turned on.
But then I'm thinking is this really improving the safety for bikes and other traffic or osch this just an easy way to take money from the groep students that are already trying to survive in this world.
I mean like I said I should've had light on my bike and yes I learns from it.
But did they just wanna reach their quota or did they wanna make sure I was biking with a light so drivers could see me?
It's easy for them. The end of the year the days are getting shorter (The sun goes down earlier) so they have a bigger opportunity to catch people biking without lights.
But a better way to teach people to have a light switched on is for example lowering the absurd fine so the people (mostly students) that bike without light can actually afford it. And hand out small lights (they're EUR 1 at the convenient store.) This way they actively make sure that bikers have lights on their bike.
Let me hear what you guys think
Like I said they were right about the fact that I didn't have lights on my bike but don't you think EUR 64 is a little too much for something like this?
If you agree don't forget to Upvote so I can pay my fine ;)