Fines above a certain level somehow become less than a slap on the wrist.

Have you priced in cost of keeping your old one?

My speculation is that teenagers react so vile to adults trying to fit in partially as a unwittingly defensive mechanism. Teenagers have some social skills, but not all and thus having separate youth culture provides spaces for learning - adults trying to fit in are possible OP in those spaces and keeping out adults altogether might help with abuse prevention as well.

I don’t really know how to test or research this speculation though.

Maybe take a look at the North Sea Link with 730 km length, 1.4 GW power rating and estimated costs of €2 billion, becoming operational in 2021.

The NSL has thus roughly

• one-sixth the length (730 km / 4300 km),
• half-ish the power rating (1.4 GW / 3 GW) and
• one-ninth the estimated costs (€2 Bn (or A$3.31 Bn) / A$30 Bn (or €18.12 Bn))

of the Australia-Asia Power Link.

Seems expensive to build above tried specifications.