Wednesday, November 10, 2010

On the way to work this morning I noticed a fairly large sign on the side of the road for the first time. I knew that Australia had some pretty absurd laws and penalties for breaking them, but I hadnt seen anything this ridiculous.

The sign says 'No Rubbish dumping,' with the maximum fine listed below, in bold red letters, as $250,000. That means, with an average american income, it'd take you nearly five years to pay off the fine from throwing a bag of garbage on the side of the road. And i'm just assuming they mean throwing garbage on the side of the road en masse. It may very well mean that you could get a $250,000 fine for throwing your empty dunkaroo out the window. I wouldn't put it past them. If they enforce this rear to kerb shit then who knows what theyre capable of.

But as ridiculous as that sign is, it still makes more sense than some of the other ones. Take the speed limit signs that say, "Speeding penalties exceed $110." At least the no littering sign tells you what you're in for if you litter. Throw an old tiger beat out the window and theres no way youll have to pay more than 250k. The speeding one is just too vague and ominous. Double up on the speed limit and youll probably wind up chained to a wall in the prime minister's sex dungeon.

Sometimes australia......sometimes

I'm going to just start giving the government IOUs for all my infractions. "250 thou - might wanna hang onto that one."

No comments:

Post a Comment