Comment by saintfire

I have an anecdote about fines not being about making a victim whole.

I was hit by a hit-and-run while driving my car. Totally destroyed the back-end.

I personally investigated and gathered info/videos to figure out the car and plates because the police essentially said they couldn't be bothered.

After finding out the owner of the car the insurance company said that under their criteria it was no longer a hit-and-run and I'm not covered by them. The person did not have insurance.

The law here is the owner of the vehicle faces a $2000 fine, plus the $2000 fine for a vehicle being operated without insurance. I was subpoenaed as a witness (lol) to the hit and run, for which I had to take a day off work.

So, the government earned a cool $4000 for my troubles, and i was out a $3000 car and a day of work.

I've since accepted that fines are just a lazy blunt instrument that serve as nothing more than a deterrent; not a way to fix past injustices. Maybe obvious but still counter intuitive when you're the wronged party.