A simple solution for ram-ganking:

[JetsonRING]

Jmanis had another suggestion - one that I fail to find any kind of fault with:
Inside a no-fire zone...
1. If a speeding ship collides with another (clean ship) and causes shield damage, it receives a fine as normal
2. If a speeding ship collides with another (clean ship) and causes hull damage, it receives a bounty as per the current death mechanic
Like I said, I fail to see where this would wouldn't work as an effective ramming deterrent. Anyone?

This already happens, to a less aggressive extent the only difference is, the speeding ship gets the bounty only if the collision causes a death. Collisions happen all the time. Most of us have had the pleasure of an NPC CMDR or NPC security ship colliding with us only for us to get a "reckless flying" fine because we were going 105 m/sec.
I am talking about gankers using repeated ramming to destroy a ship inside the no-fire zone. An exploit which circumvents the penalty for firing on another ship inside the no-fire zone. Can't shoot 'em? Ram 'em! They can't shoot back!

 

[JetsonRING]

That makes sense. Although my point still stands, doing this would make station ganking MUCH easier.

A station-gank is impossible provided the victim is simply not speeding. Problem solved.

 

[JetsonRING]

How does a player manage to be rammed by the same CMDR four, five times in a row, whilst watching their hull amount lazily drop to zero, is beyond me

It does not take 4 or 5 collisions to drop your shields. True, some of the blame lies with the inattentive CMDR but often the collision is not noticeable. Small ship running into a big ship. No shaking, no vibration, no bang! Just the shields dropping off. When it happened to me I was in an Anaconda and the ganker was in a FerDL. It's like a fly screwing an elephant and asking "Am I hurting you, baby?"

 

[space voyager]

Plausible? The game is about flying interstellar-capable ships that run on electricity generated by plasma gulping nuclear reactors. Plausible???

TRUE, though I would want to work within these, necessary for the game to exist at all, stretches of reality. Adding completely artificial mechanics like "if you ram your shields drop magically" is simply not immersive. I wouldn't mind if, say, the station took the liberty to strip you off your shields with weapons it has. At least you know how it happened.