back to article Spanish town to reward good drivers

The Spanish town of Puigcerdà has come up with a novel way of rewarding those drivers who behave themselves: give them the cash which was collected in fines from those who don't. The objective of the cunning plan is, according to mayor Joan Planella, "to get people to drive better and to show residents that respecting the law …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    With the fools around here

    I could make a fortune, when can we start ;)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Go

      Ditto

      I second that comment

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Fools? Your lucky

      The ones round my way drive like morons with a death wish.

      As for parking. I think that's defined as stopping the car and getting out.

      1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

        .. and only ..

        .. because they're too lazy to run and stick the parking ticket on your car before you slow down.

        This is what *really*, *really* pisses me off. Why do we get axe murderers, terrorists and rampage gunmen harm perfectly innocent people when there are so many *good* targets around?

        And yes, I'm joking. At least, that's my story and I'll stick to it. No, it's pure coincidence I'm oiling that chainsaw. And sharpening that knife. And that's not my angle grinder, and .. hello? Hellooo? Where aaaaare youuu? Mwhohahahahaaa.

        Anyone seen my pills? :-)

  2. John Moppett
    FAIL

    OK.....

    So, assuming the system works, how do they propose to fund it when everyone behaves??

    1. Freddie
      Thumb Down

      Did you read the article?

      They're giving out the fines from the previous year. If there are no fines there's little reward. So what they're actually encouraging is what disgruntled yank proposes, provocation!

      This actually sounds like a good idea. I didn't think governments were supposed to have those!

    2. J 3
      Paris Hilton

      Re: OK....

      You didn't really understand the article, did you?

      There is nothing to be funded.

      If everyone behaves, you divide the proceedings from fines (0 euros) by the amount of good drivers (everyone), and pay them the resulting sum (0 euros).

      Now, who will want to be the ones giving up and resume paying the fines?

  3. disgruntled yank

    business model

    1. Drive persistently 5 mph below speed limit.

    2. Watch the impatient young pass one illegally.

    3. Collect one's share.

    4. Repeat.

    1. Pete 2 Silver badge

      a better business model

      5. Fine all the visiting motorists and those just passing through the town. Divide up the loot among the locals.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Spanish town to reward good drivers

    Well It is indeed a cunning plan but what will happend when the number of good drivers will increase and the drivers which do not behave decreases then what State of Puigcerdà are going to do? From where they will pay these gifts? Or simply it will become a Myth after sometime.

  5. Piro Silver badge
    WTF?

    Very nice

    A measure that doesn't fuck the regular guy, but infact.. helps him?

    Christ

  6. Andy 97
    Go

    Genius!

    The mayor of this town is a complete genius.

    Imagine Darling authorising the payments of speeding fines to Honda Jazz drivers.

    It's a nice idea, but wouldn't work here.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Paris Hilton

      Might...

      If we get the locally elected Mayors they're muting (ie ones with actual teeth to do something) However, this will take power away from central gov, which I can't see them giving up too easily.

      The other problem is that the system is rife for corrruption (don't argue, it happens, and will do as long as it continues) an uncle of mine lives in Spain and has explained all the orror stories.

      On the positive side though, there is generally more GOOD that comes from this system than bad, you just need to know which is which. (example: all the unemployed in a town/village in some cases are forced to do 'comunity projects ie: cleaning the streets, repairing the area and generally making the place nicer to live in, also helps tourism... they don't get any unemployment benefit if they don't) so this seems like a good side. Wpouldn't work over here though, H&S/unions/"Human Rights" wouldn't allow it. (Oh! we can't have the likkle unemployed yobs 'just' cleaning the streets, they have to be "actively seeking work" [biggest joke ever])

      Am I getting to cynical, I'm not even that old (42). I'd love someone to broach this in the Commons and see what the response is (and hopefully watch it, I love a god comedy).

      Not sure what icon to go with so I'll settle for Paris, I think even she could thia as a good idea.

      Anon 'cos of my Uncle

  7. Anton Ivanov
    Flame

    Spanish habits vary

    Spain is a place with some of the best drivers I have ever seen (on La Palma) as well as worst drivers I have ever seen (Fuerteventura and some of the continent). So depending on where this town is the number can be anything between 5 and 6495. You never know.

  8. blackworx
    Thumb Up

    Ha ha

    I hate the whole "motorists as persecuted group" bullshit, and in general I dislike cars and the significant twattish minority who seem to see the ability to "pop down the shops" in one as some kind of god-given right, but I hate petty bureaucracy and stealth taxes even more and would just LOVE to see UK.gov give up the gazillions they've made in fines in this way.

    For the record, I believe cars should be taxed to the hilt - even more than they are now. The simple fact is there are too many of the bastarding things being used unneccessarily in this country. Sadly though, taxation doesn't even seem to work. People really are lazy and stupid enough to continue forking over wads of cash to enjoy the "freedom" of motoring whilst bemoaning their lot as a poor discriminated-against minority^H^H^H overwhelming majority.

    1. It wasnt me

      @Ha Ha

      "motorists bemoaning their lot as a poor descriminated-against minority"?????????

      You dont think its possible that theres no minority issue at all, they are just moaning at the petty bureaucracy and stealth taxes?

      Just like you, in fact, in your first paragraph.

      You sound like a confused daily mail reader, not knowing which way to run when 2 conflicting viewpoints create a paradox that a tiny mind cannot deal with.

      1. Jacqui Smith's DVD Collection!
        Flame

        Car sick

        I'm just sick of trying to get a bus anywhere, the roads are full of cars, each with no passengers, and at night you have to put up with speeding cars.

        Unfortunately car drivers are no longer a minority, when it comes to road traffic.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @It wasnt me

        As a car driver I'm in complete agreement with blackworx. My car is a necessary evil which, if I could, I would do without. When I do use it I do so in compliance with the laws of the land.

        I don't see any petty bureaucracy only law enforcement. and arrogance from those who think that they are entitled to drive badly and park illegally then cry foul when they are caught. I couldn't care less that technology is used as money earner, if you break the law and get caught then the means is irrelevant. The only tiny minds I see are those owned by the sort of person who bursts into tears and takes their ball home when they don't get to play the game by their own rules and aren't allowed to win.

        1. Puck

          thought there was lots of clarity in that, and agree with it except...

          ...the bit about parking illegally. Setting aside criminally bad parking (which is self-evidently a 'bad'), I'm not even sure if parking is a civil offence. If it is, it is a very problematic one, because it consists of failing to do what an often unjust, compromised, and/or irrational local government says is an offence worthy of a huge penalty, e.g. parking for a minute too long, or in an otherwise empty town which has been yellow-lined over for reasons of revenue and/or other problematic policy.

          It isn't as simple as straightforward illegality, in terms of a legal regime which might be more plainly in the interests of the population as a whole - as I see it, the act of parliament which gives local councils the powers in question is one of the nastiest bits of law ever, given how it empowers those bodies to ruin ditzy drivers for minor indiscretions, often seemingly prompted by the designs of unscrupulous local road planning departments.

      3. blackworx
        Badgers

        @ It wasn't Me

        The first word I used was indeed "minority", but you'll find in the end I said "overwhelming majority". I figured everybody here would "get" the ^H^H^H backspace reference but I was obviously wrong.

        Nice try with the tiny mind insinuation though.

        1. strum

          No majority

          Only a third of Britons have primary access to a car (i.e., they get to decide who uses it).

          Most cars (at any given moment) are parked somewhere, usually for most of the day.

          At any given moment, driving is very much a minority activity.

    2. Tim Schomer
      FAIL

      You just try

      Living in the country mate, see how much of your weekly shop you can get on the back of your bike, cos' you sure as hell ain't gonna get it on the one bus a week that is the usual service (or wold you prefer a Taxi for those occasions, kinda defeats the purpose really)

      1. blackworx

        @Tim

        I did say "unneccessarily". To my mind it's not an unneccassary car journey if you choose to live in the arse end of nowhere and have to go a serious distance to get to the supermarket. You should, however, be prepared to pay for the privilege. After all nobody's forcing you to live where you do.

  9. Ian Ferguson
    Thumb Up

    Great idea

    Even better: Don't split it up, make it a lottery. And not just local drivers; record every numberplate going through the district, and every few months send a cheque to a randomly chosen 'good driver'.

    (That does of course involve keeping records of all drivers, but I'm sure the police will be doing that soon anyway)

  10. Simon 6
    Grenade

    But but but....

    I thought all countries treated this revenue as a stealth tax?

    It will never happen here... those floating duck islands don't come cheap you know!

    Saw a mobile blood bank get a ticket last year for parking in a pedestrianised zone.

    Another poor guy get a ticket for parking on double yellow lines even though his hazzards were on, the car was jacked up, a tire removed and a note on the window saying he had gone to the tire place 200 yards away to get fixed. Bastards!

    Common sense like this? Not in this country

  11. 1of10

    that reminds me of one council in London

    Can someone drop this bit bad news at Westminister.gov.uk council door step...

    Instead of that council robbing motorists while they sleep at night and while there are no traffic problems on their roads - at least the council would far more useful serving the people that they are meant to look after.

  12. TRT Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    When?

    will they adopt this idea for tobacco and alcohol tax?

    1. Tim Schomer
      IT Angle

      Ahahaha AAAAHHHAHHAHHAHHAHHHAAA

      no need for any more comment.

      And by the way, for all those concerned, IT'S BEING REPORTED ON T' INTERWEB - IT angle sorted

  13. Vincent Ballard
    Thumb Up

    Free meal

    In one of the villages outside Valencia (Burjassot IIRC) over Christmas they were breathalysing drivers at random and giving a voucher for a free meal in a local restaurant to anyone who passed.

    1. Tim Schomer
      Happy

      I wonder...

      ...if the Mayor's brother/cousin/other relative owned said restaraunt (and if they breathalised them after........)

  14. LuMan
    Pint

    Infinite cash!!

    Hang on, if the lolly is divided up among the good drivers, then, if everyone drives bad, there'll be zero people to divide between. By my maths, any number divided by zero is infinity. This means the following year EVERYBODY can have infinity Euros!!

    I'm standing for Chancellor Of The Exchequer next!

  15. LaeMing

    What about non-drivers?

    What about those of us who have taken some trouble to organise our lives to not need voluntary self-impoverishment (AKA: a car)? We still have to deal with the idiots who think footpaths are parking lots and pedestrian crossings are race-track finish lines.

    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      You'll get a lolly..

      .. if you manage to cross at footpaths, when the lights are GREEN, not red. Pedestrians and cyclists have a habit of treating traffic lights as mere decoration, but moan at drivers if they get hurt as a consequence.

      And I *hate* having to wash off blood.

    2. Intractable Potsherd
      FAIL

      On the other hand ...

      ... having taken the trouble to organise my life so that I *do* need a car so that I don't have to live in horible, inefficient high-density towns with sanctimonious pricks like you, why should I be penalised all the time? Believe me, my death and injury rate (zero) is significantly less than that if I lived and worked any closer to people ...

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re Free meal

    So teh authoriteez pay some sort of compenstaion for dicking you around? Nice idea, but there isn't enough money in the Bank of England for that to work in this country.

  17. disgruntled yank

    parking

    @puck:

    I believe that if you show up with Cardinal Richelieu as a character witness, you'll get off with a lighter fine.

  18. John H Woods Silver badge

    ANPR application

    Instead of signs saying 'please drive carefully' and 'thank-you' we just need ANPRs at each end. Any motorist who drives through at a reasonable speed gets entered into the DVLA lottery with a chance of winning free road-tax for a year. Easy.

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