That's true, but they still assess fines and court costs. A lot of people will actually opt to pay an increased fine to avoid having demerit points on their li

That's true, but they still assess fines and court costs. A lot of people will actually opt to pay an increased fine to avoid having demerit points on their license. This is because they know that the demerit points will affect their insurance rates and make it more likly their license could be suspended if they commit another offense. If you remove the option to opt for a fine instead of demerit points, then people won't be able to get out of the consequences of getting demerit points and there would be no income based discrimination. For example, someone who makes a decent living would have no problem paying an increased fine compared to someone who is living paycheck to paycheck.