Kimi Räikkönen collects EUR 30,000 fine for traffic offence

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Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen is facing a hefty fine of EUR 30,000 for an incident last year involving the illegal transport of snowmobiles on a trailer behind his car. The Orimattila District Court confirmed the sentence on Tuesday.
      Räikkönen was not in court in person because for some months now he has not contested the view of the police officers or the size of the fine.
     
The court heard a statement from a member of the mobile police who had noticed a car and trailer combination on the Helsinki-Lahti motorway at Mäntsälä in February 2004. The officer said that Räikkönen had told him he was carrying three snowmobiles and that he was coming to the Helsinki area from elsewhere in Finland.
      The court concurred with the view that this was not a case of a short, unladen transfer with a trailer, which the law would permit without the driver's having the "E" driving licence required for operating a car-trailer combination the total weight of which exceeds 3,500 kg. Räikkönen was given 12 day-fines for driving without a proper licence and for two other vehicle violations.
      One of these was that he did not have the trailer's registration documents with him in the car, and the other was that the mirrors on the towing vehicle did not conform to the requirements for hauling a trailer.
     
When stopped, Räikkönen was unable to give an accurate figure for his income. This is relevant in this country, as traffic fines are income-related.
      The authorities calculated his net earnings at EUR 150,000 a month. Hence the size of the fine.
      Though large, Räikkönen's fine falls well short of the Finnish record for such things. A few of the recent big-spenders are listed in the linked article from 2003.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Speeding fine falls from EUR 80,000 to EUR 15,000 (29.9.2003)

Helsingin Sanomat