Court day in MA

[cjs]

I think I have some useful information about speed enforcement in Massachusetts.
Since I've been living here in MA, I've got 2 citations:
- 40m/h on 30m/h road in Acton back in 2005: not responsible by clerk in Concord Court House
- 69m/h on 45m/h state road (route 2) back in October 2008: not responsible by a judge in Concord Court House (no officer present)

Regarding the hearing with the clerk:
- If you are dealing with your first ticket ever, this is what you need to do:
- show up well dressed to the hearing with the clerk (wearing a suit helps)
- show remorse
- don't try to step into technicalities (clerks hate that); this means don't show up with a bunch of pictures of the road (trying to prove that you were speeding only for 2 feet or that there's no way the officer had enough time to catch you because of a hill, curve, etc), etc.
- in MA it is almost a secret rule that if it is your first ticket ever, the clerk will easily give you a break and declare you not responsible. This I got from a prosecutor.
- If you got a second ticket, then the hearing with the clerk is pretty much a waste of time; but.... they will likely offer you a discount so everybody saves time; up to you if you accept it. I think it is worth to ask for an appeal in front of a judge; you'll have to pay 20 dollars to have the chance.
- Officer will never be present; only one representative from the police station or a prosecutor. You cannot ask to be declared not responsible just because the officer is not present.

Regarding the novo appeal in front of a judge (my second ticket):
- Officer must be present or you will automatically be declared not responsible by the judge; this is what actually happened to me.
- you'll win if there are ugly errors in the ticket like: wrong license number written by the officer; completely different car description written on the ticket (let's say the officer wrote you were on a black toyota camry and your car is actually a yellow corvette); wrong law number circled on the ticket (I think 90-18 only applies to I90 and a section of route 1; most MA roads are under 90-17).
- Besides the last 2 cases, the only "trick" that works is if you go to the judge with another police officer as a witness to testify that you actually were not speeding.

I'm not joking. I wanted to be prepared for my hearing with the judge, so I went for 3 weeks every Friday to court to be more familiarized with the process. So I've heard dozens of cases, every single one with a different strategy used. Nothing works.

A few examples of things that do not work:
- "Sorry your honor; I was speeding. But if I'm declared responsible my insurance will go up which is unfair"
- "If I'm declared responsible I'll lose my job and I'll become a burden to the state and city"
- "Lidar is not an approved device to measure speed in MA" The guy even mentioned that the Ohio Supreme Court declared speed enforcement illegal if a lidar is used. I have no idea if this is true. The judge dismissed it and invited the guy to appeal in front of the MASS Supreme Court. I personally think the judge was "playing" with the guy; MA supreme Court already declared it is ok to use lidar for speed enforcement.
- "Nobody was going slower than me on the same route at the same time"
- "The officer didn't answer my request for discovery"
- One guy was asking questions to the officer about the lidar calibration. In just a few words: in MA officers calibrate their devices once or twice a year and that is good enough for judges.
- Another guy asked lots of questions about the circunstances surrounding the incident; the officer smartly answered all the questions with "I don't remember". The guy was declared responsible of course.
- "The distance between my car and the officer was over 1000 feet" The distance on the ticket was actually a little bit more than 1500 feet. I thought the officer was losing the case; but that didn't happen. The judge still declared the guy responsible.

It is also true that on 90% of the cases I saw judges offering a discount as good as the one offered by the clerk; this is why I think it is worth to appeal to the judge. At least that way you try the chance of the officer not showing up which happens pretty often.

A few other things I noticed:
- if you were ticketed by a state police officer, your chance of the officer not showing up is almost zero. On all the cases I saw, they were always present. Interesting to see every time there were around 5 state police officers present for different traffic court cases and every single one would go driving their own patrol. Haven't they heard about car pooling?
- In the case of city police officers, 50% of the times the officer wouldn't show up.
- Technicalities don't work with the clerk,...don't work with the judge. Internet is full of recommendations and there are a few books you can buy about "how to beat your ticket". Besides what I mentioned before....nothing works in MA. If the officer is present your chance to be declared responsible is pretty much 100%; no matter what you have to say to the judge.

Finally my personal opinion about speed enforcement in MA:
- Most roads in MA have ridiculous speed limits that nobody obeys. Two clear examples are: I95 (only 55m/h) and route 2 (only 25 m/h in some sections)
- Most roads in MA are not in compliance with regulations about enginering studies and 85% percentile; the last time an enginering study was done for many cities in MA was in the 60s. All this doesn't matter to the judge.
- It is not about safety; most police officers go way over the posted speed limit when they drive their police cars (not answering any emergency call).
- Lidar fails. In my second case I know for a fact I was driving at 58m/h on a 45 m/h route; the officer got on the lidar that I was at 69m/h. I have no reason to lie on this forum since I'm already declared not responsible. I explained the officer at the scene that I wasn't going that fast; maybe that's why he didn't show up in court. He got me with the lidar when I quickly changed from the right to the left lane; maybe the sudden move caused the lidar to impact different parts of my suv causing the wrong reading. I'm not sure. All I know is that I was going at 50 m/h and then went up to 58 the moment I switched lanes and then I slowed down.

[mpj220]

Thanks for sharing!

Hopefully my clean driving record will yield me some slack in a few weeks.

[thefreakincarjunkie]

Regarding the hearing with the clerk:
- If you are dealing with your first ticket ever, this is what you need to do:
- [B]don't try to step into technicalities (clerks hate that); this means don't show up with a bunch of pictures of the road (trying to prove that you were speeding only for 2 feet or that there's no way the officer had enough time to catch you because of a hill, curve, etc), etc.[/B]- Technicalities don't work with the clerk,...don't work with the judge. Internet is full of recommendations and there are a few books you can buy about "how to beat your ticket". Besides what I mentioned before....nothing works in MA. If the officer is present your chance to be declared responsible is pretty much 100%; no matter what you have to say to the judge.
Finally my personal opinion about speed enforcement in MA:
- Most roads in MA have ridiculous speed limits that nobody obeys. Two clear examples are: I95 (only 55m/h) and route 2 (only 25 m/h in some sections)
- It is not about safety; most police officers go way over the posted speed limit when they drive their police cars (not answering any emergency call).

Anyone who travels in MA should take heed to this x6,000,000 because it is all very true. My buddy tried to play the technicalitie card for a situation where he could not signal a turn and could not stay in lanes (failure to signal turn & Marked lanes violation), and he legitimatly couldnt (He spun out in the rain and was too busy praying to god that he lived when he hit the guardrail) and consequently the clerk got mad called him irresponsible and told him to stop and GTFO immedatly and stop wasting his time. He ended up paying for both violations. This was in Lawerence district court, and it is the general way it works around there. As far as road speeds go very right about that too. Most roads have autobahn level unwritten speeds. Youll find this out quickly.

I think this should be stickied espically about the court advice, this could be extremely helpful to anyone going thru the MA court system.

[mpj220]

I am willing to wager ( and hoping) that most comes down to driving record and appearance.

If you walk into court with ripped jeans and a Bud t-shirt, chances will be slim.

It seems that cjs invested much time into seeing how his court treats accused violators. I would be interested in knowing if appearance was a major factor.

I wish I had the time to do the same but, the courthouse that I need to attend is approx 1 hour drive and, being a stay at home parent of two small children, it is next to impossible.

[cjs]

Driving record and appereance could only matter on the hearing in front of the clerk. Never when you are in front of a judge.
Yeah, I spent lots of time on this issue; too much IMHO. I had plenty of accumulated PTO at work so that's why. Also the court house I visited all those times is a few minutes far from home. I perfectly understand most people could not afford to spend that much time so that's why I posted what I found out.

[jwardell]

Thanks for the research. My experiences certainly agree. Magistrate always finds responsible with a small reduction (even on my first ticket). During appeal, officer lied through his teeth under oath. I'm sure a lot depends on which judge, which officer, etc you get. I also watched one judge let off every senior citizen and blonde girl, while finding everyone else responsible. Typical of most things in this state, systems unchanged since the 1700's.

[freedomtotravel]

all this proves one point. people tail gate now to avoid getting hit with a laser. drivers daily speed in mass. probably 90% of them are speeding. Its time to change the laws. Call your reps and demand a change in the law. get organized. use the net. have people sign petitions in yoru town and deliver that by hand. find out how to change the constitution in your state to ban speed limits altogether and start a petition to get going on this. the reps are all bought out by insurance companies. Let the voice of 80% of the people be heard.

[Donut Patrol]

Everything stated in the OP is correct. If you want to see the PSL vs the 85th percentile go here-

Illegal and unreasonable speed limits in Massachusetts