Money Moral Dilemma: Should I pay my friend's speeding fine?

A question about : Money Moral Dilemma: Should I pay my friend's speeding fine?

Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:

Should I pay my friend's speeding fine?

A friend of mine was giving me a lift one night, and was caught by a fixed camera and given a speeding fine. As he was going out of his way to drop me off, should I pay his fine?

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Best answers:

• No way! Its not your fault your friend was speeding. He could have been driving anywhere NOT out of his way and been caught- his choice to speed, he has to face the consequences.
• No, definitely not! You weren't the one driving the vehicle, you had no control over the speed that you were going, so it wasn't your fault that your friend got a speeding ticket! They may have been going out of their way but all you should justifiably give is a contribution towards the petrol it may have cost them! Them going out of their way isn't an excuse for their speeding.
• Did you ask him to hurry because you were late? In that case, then as a friend I'd offer to pay it. Otherwise, absolutely not.
• Unless you were putting on the pressure to get there quick, no way! It's his choice to break the speed limit...
• Depends if you expect any more lifts, or favours, from this friend.
  If you don't then don't pay.
  If you do then you may want to consider helping your friend out, after all he helped you out.
• So the penalty must legally remain in their name (i.e. They take the points); failure to do tell the truth about the driver can land you in prison (even if you're an MP!)
  Whether you offer them some money to share the cost of the ticket is at your discretion and depends on the circumstances of the incident. As others have said:
  -were you or the driver late for something? if so, whose fault was the lateness?
  -were you distracting the driver?
  -regardless of that will this impact your friendship and are you dependant on future lifts?
  If you were the cause of lateness, hurry, were a distraction or if you are worried about this impacting the friendship /likelihood of future lifts, then by all means offer to pay half the cost of the fine to your friend as a goodwill gesture.
  I am quite a fan of yellow fixed speed cameras that are sensibly sited. They don't catch people speeding, they catch people who are speeding WHERE they aren't looking where they are going; the principle being that if you can't notice a huge dayglow yellow box that's visible from some way off, you'll probably also not notice the child wandering out between two parked cars.
  I have no problem with speed, I just think the driver ought to pay attention, which I think is a reasonable demand.
  Before anybody replies to say, "ah, but I was caught by a mobile or disguised speed camera so you're talking rubbish", note that I said "yellow fixed speed cameras that are sensibly sited". And if I recall correctly, there is regulation prohibiting the disguise of cameras - the driver must be warned and the cameras must be visible from a considerable distance, which increases in line with the speed limit.
• No, not unless you asked him to drive quickly/speed. He is responsible for his driving, not you, even if he was doing you a favour.
• I agree with other posters unless it was your fault one or both of you were running late then personally I wouldn't pay. As the driver I wouldn't accept a friend paying anyway as it would be my own fault. Maybe offer to take them out for a meal or a drink if you feel bad and would like another favour in future.
• Did you ask your friend to speed? Probably not, so it's his responsibility to drive within the law. Don't pay.
• As per others, if you pressured the driver to drive fast then you should pay half.
  If not, it's the drivers responsibility to drive in a safe manner.
• Friends give each other lifts all of the time; it's what friends do. I would imagine that a large proportion of drivers caught speeding have a passenger in the car at the time and I would also imagine that those drivers do not blame their passenger for the fact that they have been caught speeding.
  Has your friend asked you to pay the fine or make a contribution to it or is this your own idea? Unless there is any reason why you feel that you are to blame for your friend speeding I think that he should take the consequences for his actions. They are his actions, not yours. You were merely a passenger and, although your friend was doing you a favour, you are not at all responsible for his mistake.
• This is another one of the moral dilemmas to which the answer is so obvious I wonder why you bothered to ask it. The excuse that the driver was going out of his way to give you a lift is irrelevant. He was driving the car, whether to break the speed limit is his decision, end of story
• Obviously for the fact you had a gun to his head then it's only reasonable that you pay the fine for his speeding.
  Oh, you didn't?
  Then he can choose how much he wants to put his right foot down then.
  Give him some money for the petrol, sure, but not for his silliness.
• As with pretty much all of these 'should I pay' dilemmas, you should offer to pay and he should refuse your offer.
  If he takes you up on the offer he's not a good friend, and it'll have cost you the price of a speeding fine to find that out. Money well spent perhaps?
• What a ridiculous question. He was in charge of the car by driving it. He pays.
• You should thank him for giving you a lift, reimburse him for his petrol, and do him a favour or buy him a drink as thanks for his time.
  His choice to speed (and his lack of attention in failing to notice the speed limit / big yellow camera) are his own affair, not yours.
  Don'y offer. If he is asking you to contribute, ask him why? How is this in any way your responsibility?
  Its also worth bearing in mind that most people have habits in how they drive. It's unlikely that this is the only time he's ever broken the limit, it just happened that this was the time he got caught.
• As others have said, if you were hurrying your friend along, then I would offer to pay half as a goodwill gesture. Your frieed may even refuse your offer if they feel it was their fault entirely. Mixing money and friends can be a delicate situation.
• What a ridiculous question, you did not ask them or encourage them to speed I assume so why on earth should you pay......