Mass Speeding Ticket
 

My daughter got an 84 in a 65 speeding plus no inspection ticket for a t grand total of 250.00 from a state trooper on the Pike. She was heading up to UMASS for class and was running late. The inspection was my fault we had taken her car of the road as she was attending school out of state. I never thought of checking the inspection after we put the car back on the road last week.

She is 18 and has been driving for 2 years, no tickets. I am worried about the fine and the hosing she will get from the insurance company. She is appealing the ticket. She is going to go alone and tell the clerk magistrate that she is going to college and simply cannot afford the ticket nor the surcharge. If she gets the surcharge it will be a hardship to pay for that and college and the fine. You know this state really sucks the cash out of your wallet geez. I am hoping she will catch a break.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Tell the truth to the clerk.

I would say that I am 18 and still live at home. My dad takes care of the car for me, and I had no idea about the inspection sticker. He takes care of the registration, the inspection, upkeep, and insurance for me. I have now learned that I need to be more involved so that I can keep track of this stuff. He thought it was easier since I had enough to worry about college. They may just toss the thing all together. They will probably know she already has a spotless record.

If she says she can't afford it cause it si a hardship they think she is being whiny.

I wish her luck. From experience, the inspection sticker will probably be dismissed. But it would be tough to see anyone toss out a 19 MPH over speeding ticket. My guess, because she has a clean record and a college student it will be the usual $100 fine. Sorry for my input but afterall she was moving pretty good.

It's the 6 years of surcharges that really stink. Best of luck again Duke.

states need the cash,alot more tickets coming our way.last nite ct tv said troppers had given out over 20,000 speeding tickets.

Pay it...she WAS speeding...May teach her a lesson that could save her life someday....Good luck...

Thats kinda my Sentiment too.....She got caught, time to pay up. Lesson Learned

If you really want to try to get her out of it, check to see if she was clocked with radar or lydar. If it was radar, tell her to fight it and when in court, ask to see the most recent calibration report for the radar gun used. Radar is not really as accurate as they'd have you believe and lots of tickets are dismissed because of that. If it was LYDAR, she should just ask for mercy and hope they knock down the fine a bit. Lydar is pretty much as accurate as it gets. She'll still have the insurance surcharge, but she'll have learned a lesson. Good luck.

She was speeding but 250 bucks plus 300 a year for 6 years. I think 2000+ for you first speeding ticket is absolute bull %$%$%$%$.

Ditto. With the increased Trooper presence on the Pike, anything over 75 MPH is begging for a ticket. I drive from Plainville to Springfield at least 2-3 times a month, usually more. Ever single trip, I see at least 2-4 people pulled over. You pass 3 SP Barracks with direct access to the Pike and I think 2 substations.

Sorry Duke, but 19MPH over deserves a ticket. She's been driving 2 years, but has she been driving that fast for 2 years and just been lucky? f18 summed up what I was going to say exactly.

People, not just kids, drive too damn fast.

That's the insurance company not the state. The state has to impose a penalty somehow. But the insurance companies will hit you with a similar increase if she had rolled a Stop sign or gone through a yellow light.

This is what is wrong with our f%$#@ society today.. Parents defending their kids for something they did wrong??!! Are you kidding me...My kid would get the fine and a kick in the arse...like my old man did to me...

They usually don't surcharge you first moving violation..

That said if they do shop around. My wife had an accident last year, the insurance went up 600.00 I called my agent they shopped us around and I am now paying what i paid last year. things have changed in the car insurance world...

Isn't there another thread in this forum about what's wrong with society and the top subject is accountability? fishaholic, thank you for reading my mind.

When i was that age i got nailed for a $600 for speeding in a contruction zone...

I know it stinks but she did the crime now she has to pay her dues. MA used to be $50 for the first 10 over then $10 for every mile past 10.

Switch insurance companies mine allows one speeding ticket per year with no sur charge

Sounds like you're eating the fine for the inspection and she's eating the fine for the speeding!

Congrats! Good lesson.

If you want to install good values in your daughter and raise her to be accountable for her actions, you should make her pay the ticket. If that means getting a part time job waiting tables at a resteraunt, bagging groceries, etc... It will be a lesson worth learning.

I've taken the day off from work twice and beaten 2 tickets ,, I told them my record is good (never a speeding ticket) and the amount of miles I drive commuting .. Just said I was going with the flow of traffic and didn't realize how fast I was going .. I didn't lie and deny I was speeding,, trying to make an arse out of the officer .:doh:.. That being said 84 mph ?? I think 80 is considered reckless driving .. My experience you can speed ,,, 75mph is the magic number most will just let you go by .. Over that your asking for it .. I tell my kjids that .. Over 75 they are going to make you pay . So I drive 75 (in a 65)with cars blowing by me . I'd fight it ... Not because your kid is right . I'd fight it because the insurance company's are such thieving basteges.. They get you both ways ..I'd dope slap my kid for 84.. Most definately wouldn't survive a crash at that or come out looking pretty . also ... The officer does not have to be present anymore .. One cop will be present for the State .

Car v.s. pole/other solid object @ 84 m.p.h.=something you don't want to consider. There is no second chance at that speed.

He could have cited you for the inspection sticker if it was in your name and her for the speeding.

She will probably get a break on the inspection sticker.

Being polite and showing some humilty, without the whining, in the hearing room goes a long way (the specialist said this). Good luck.

Besides it is two surcharges, not one.

And by the way when the inspection sticker is expired the car can be towed, because the inspection sticker is an integral part of the registration law. In other words the car can be considered unregistered without a current inspection sticker. No one is doing that yet though.

Jesus I am a cop and if stopped could probably talk my way out of a ticket, but I'd never get stopped because I only drive 68 to 70 m.p.h. on the pike going back and forth to New Braintree. This is why there are never any minor crashes anymore. Rollovers and other types serious crashes are occurring at an alarming rate.

At any rate, good luck.

There were a few harsh posts here but I agree with the sentiment. Maybe you should pay the inspection fine and she the speeding ticket. Here in Conn. a decent amount of kids (under 18 or so) were killed driving last year. All were speeding. Making her pay the ticket might be the best thing you ever did.

she shouldn't have been late in the first place

On a related note, Massachusetts now enters all written warnings and citations into a persons drivers history. So if one "beats" a ticket as Tagger explained, there is still an official record of it that the court gets when the violator shows up to appeal it. Well it may be correct that you don't have a speeding ticket on your insurance, the paperwork will now show you have received two written warnings, the dates, and the towns in which they were issued. So now there is a more accurate background on the persons driving habits. Eventually it will catch up with you. Sorry Tagger :)

I got pulled over for doing over 100, 3:45 in the morning coming home from a fishing trip in RI. I wanted to sleep a couple of hours before work, I Have a friend that's a mass state cop. ask him to fix it, he said I will try, the cop that gave me the ticket said no way. I only wrote him up for 90 he should be happy with that.
So I went and fought it. at the hearing there was a state police there I told them I was doing 70 it was 3:30 in the morning and and the cop needed a board so he pulled me over. that's when the cop across the table finally lifted his head and looked at me, the clerk said I will take 150 off and if you want to fight it further I needed to go to a 6 man jury trial.

it was a waste of my time 350 for the ticket minus 150 = 200 plus a days pay so I lost there. I should have just paid it

I try to only go 70 now

I have fought at least 10 tickets in my life and I will tell you it is 50/50 you never know what will happen, if the state is involved you are going to pay something, I bet it will get reduced to 150.

Ouch....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ing-laws_N.htm

I guess the bottom line is we may save a few bucks or she may get lucky. As far as you sanctimonious SOBs that think it is a good thing to get her to slow or die. PLEASE who the hell doesn't drive 75 or 80 on the highway. You guys would be whining just as loud as me, if not louder. The trooper that wrote the tic has a rep for being a %$%$%$%$%$%$%$. He was true to form.

I think the fact that the state issues points and is in bed with the insurance comps is more proof that MASS Sucks and loses population every year.


We will see what happens.

I never go 80 or 85 .. and not just saying that cause Uncle Matt is watching ... Of all the highways, I think Mass Pike you have to be on your best behavior .. I think I've seen at least one Statey everytime I've been on that road .. If I spoke harshly sorry .. I have boys ..no girls experience except for thier mother ..

I agree with you Duke that the situation does suck. No 18 year old college student, nevermind adult, can afford these tickets. But also, realize that it is the police officer that are often first on scene to the bad traffic accidents and at times they are also the same ones who have to get tell the kids parents that they are dead. Try to walk in his shoes for a mnute. Just some food for thought.

In the end, let's just hope she slows down and this is her last encounter with the police. I do wish you and her well in your appeal.

I think it is interesting that you know enough about the trooper to make the observation that he is an %%^%^&&*(). I find most kids drive just like thier parents taught them to drive. The kids are always sitting in the back seat going someplace with mom and dad as a youngster watching the speedometer and/or the red lights, blah, blah blah. I think the sanctimonious replies you received are from all the people who don't drive 75 or 80 or even 84 m.p.h. The santimonious people here are the ones who are always amazed when driving on the inside lanes doing 65 or 70 that so many people are passing them/us like we are standing still. If the trooper gave your daughter a warning for 84 m.p.h. in a 65 zone he would have been a great guy and no one ever would have heard about it.

With all due respect, the trooper was doing his job. The whole point of them being out there is to keep the roads safe and 84 just isn't safe. If she were going 75 and got the ticket, then yeah, he's being a d$#khead.

And I won't deny it. I typically set the cruise control to 74, sit back and ride. But there are times when I approach 80, never past it. I've been bagged a few times before when I was younger and my response on each of the times "damn, he got me."

It was no one's fault but my own. Not the trooper's fault, not the state's fault - no one to blame but myself. The laws are there, if someone decides to selectively break them, then they should also be willing to accept the consequences.

Wait, now I'm lost. Who's the biggest problem here?
1. The #$%^&*@ state cop
2. The insurance company
3. The entire shrinking stae of Massachusetts
4. The father who forgot to have the car inspected and thinks his daughter is okay driving 75-80 in a 65.
5. The 18 year old college freshman with her own car who ran late and then drove 19 MPH over the speed limit
6. The sanctimonious SOB's who think people should actually pay for their legal discretions.

I'd be pi$$ed, too, but at myself and the kid

19 over is on the fast side. I think 20 over is considered reckless driving. Then watch the $$$$ add up.

I don't see the above posts as being sanctimonious. You asked for advice and you got it. Tell her to slow down. What is 10 minutes late ? Not really a big deal in the big picture.

They may reduce the fee or she may get "lucky" and beat it. (don't count on it) Whatever the outcome lets hope she learns from this.

Right Mac.. I'm willing to bet he did give her a break for writing her up for only 19 over...