Well meaning, but are we not sending out the wrong message

I have been listening to the same advert on the Radio (Lite&Easy), for some while now, and there has been a regular appeal on the radio that if we pay our parking or speeding tickets issued by the Police through an Online Portal (MyEg.com.my), we can get a 50% discount. While this strategy may encourage perpetual offenders to pay up, help the Government to collect some badly needed revenue, and at the same time, give the perception of 'improved' performance by a Govt department, I feel that such a gimmick is only sending the wrong message to vehicle owners. Police Tickets are issued primarily as deterrents and must be effective in eradicating or at least minmising such offences as illegal and inconderate parking and speeding. Giving discounts to offenders, whether they are first time, or repeat cases, gives the message to the guilty ones that it is not "painful" to commit an offence, AND that the enforcement is so weak that the Authorities see fit to give a discount to get the fines resolved. The Govt should be serious about monitoring the performance of all the departments, and a good measure of performance is the TIMELY collection of fines and compounds by these departments. Offering discounts is just a lazy way of solving the problem, and will never deter the inconsiderate driver at all...