National Motorists Association
Massachusetts Page

Hello ladies and gents,

There may be some confusion about this process of fighting a traffic ticket in our Commonwealth.

Numero uno: If you get stopped be as polite and none-threatening as you can. Don't admit guilt, just kind of a golly-gee/oh-shucks ignorance. If you make them mad they'll only remember you that much better. Besides, they could also start beating you with their flashlights...

Number two: If you get charged with a criminal offense such as reckless or negligent driving, DUI, vehicular homicide or hit-and-run, hire an attorney. But for a civil complaint such as simple speeding - do not pay! If you plead guilty, over the next six years you'll end up paying close to $2500, you'll be getting that much closer to a license suspension and you'll perpetuate a rigged system. You'll also find no one will care about your story anymore. Do send the ticket in, but be careful not to miss the deadline - 20 days! And don't forget to photocopy the citation before you send it off.

Number three (at the initial hearing): Be there, look presentable and have a reasonable story why you believe you are innocent. Some excuses that DON'T work: "I set my cruise control...", "I was just going with traffic..." and "Yes, I was speeding, but..."

Your line should be something like 'that nice police officer gave this ticket to a wrong person.' You are innocent and you believe this radar readout belonged to that sports car or to that big truck or whatever. Because of traffic/darkness/obstructions at the time however, the officer happened to give this ticket to you instead of the real culprit... At this point there is no need for you to go into further details. The officer who is present WILL coach the ticketing officer about your defense if you decide to appeal the magistrate's ruling!

Remember: the magistrates get paid from the fines they collect and the officer present is NOT the ticketing officer. So don't get mad - this hearing is only designed to make you give up. Don't be disappointed if you don't win - APPEAL. It only improves your chances of a dismissal no matter what they tell you. They are not your friends.

(BTW, complaints against clerk-magistrates should be directed to the Supreme Judicial Court's Committee on Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Court, John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston, MA 02108. (617-557-1101)

Anyway. If you appeal:

• The ticketing cop may not show - then you can request your case be dismissed.
• If he does show, the cop will remember less. Since this is your only ticket, you should know more about it than the officer who's written dozens or hundreds since.
• This gives you enough time to request from the Police Department 'public information' about your case. Write "Under the Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66: Section 10 (Public inspection and copies of records), I am requesting..." and then just launch right into your request. You are entitled to obtain:

  Copies of both sides of the officer's part of your ticket

  A description of the device used to measure your speed, its repair history and maintenance.

  The officers training record on that device.

• Offer to pay the cost of photocopying.

Here are templates for a speed study request and for the officer's training and equipment records. (For NMA members they are available in Word doc format.)

KEEP AN OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE WRITTEN REQUEST, because if you don't get it you can ask the court to dismiss the case, or at least to get the hearing postponed in order to prepare your defense.

1. Postponed trial improves your chances.
2. These records may actually turn up some irregularities in the procedure, equipment maintenance or in its calibration.
3. It shows the cops you know what you're doing, which could make them simply give up.

FOR PRACTICE, SPEND AN HOUR OR SO IN THE MUNICIPAL COURT THAT YOUR TICKET IS GOING TO EVENTUALLY BE HEARD IN.

Think of ways to make this judge to like you. It doesn't matter if it's your impeccable logic, your sexy pout or your goofy grin; because they'll think "everybody speeds," you are guilty - before your presumably impartial hearing even begins. You must make them feel you deserve a break - even if you are innocent.

Number 4: At the Show.

Unless 'your' officer doesn't show, stick to a game plan. By questioning the cop try to show the judge why this ticket belonged to someone else. Make the officer agree that in traffic, darkness or with obstructions he or she has no way of knowing what causes any particular radar read-out or that someone else might've been speeding or that the officer couldn't have watched only YOU the whole time, whatever your case may be. Don't ask the cop any questions you don't already know the answers to! Stay calm, polite and focused. Remind them this is a court of law - and just like you, the officer must comply with specific legal requirements when enforcing the law. Your job is to draw the judge's attention away from you and onto what the officer did or did not do.

To help you along, here is TRF-16, "State Police Speed Measuring Document," outlining what the good officers should be doing when enforcing motor vehicle laws.

Have the officer acknowledge:

• -the beam is invisible
• -the "cross hairs" show just a dot on the finder, and not the actual beam
• -the beam is hitting the indicated dot only if there has been a precise calibration, EXTERNAL to the unit, since any slight offset can change the reading or hit another vehicle.
• -the device must be held absolutely steady. (COULD HE OR SHE HIT WITH A REAL GUN A LICENSE PLATE AT 1000 FEET?)
• -a highway is a windy place, with buffeting wind by other cars and trucks
• -the officer doesn't have a physics or optics degree
• -everything the officer knows about the device is based on what he learned in a course with materials provided by the manufacturer
• -HERE is an analysis of a real-life LIDAR ticket

Basically, any testimony by the officer as to the validity of the device should be thrown out or prevented, as he is not qualified to give an expert opinion. What he/she thinks about the precision of LIDAR is valid only because the manufacturer told him/her so and is irrelevant in the court. LTI (the original LIDAR manufacturer) is a company that has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy for some time -- although they finally posted a first quarter profit. They just settled a shareholder lawsuit that accused the company of misleading shareholders and the public. They were in trouble with the SEC for violating securities laws (artificially inflating their stock price), their accounting firm quit, and their stock was halted. Mention that next time some cop touts any of LTI's claims about its laser gun. The company's reports are public and available to anyone who wants them -- you don't have to be a shareholder.

Furthermore, the legal requirements for laser ticket convictions are identical to radar: the officer MUST first visually estimate the speed of a vehicle without a radar or a laser, before confirming his or her estimate with that speed measuring device. Therefore, the officer's ability to accurately estimate a speed by looking at the close-up of a portion of the vehicle (typically the license plate or a headlight) thousands of feet away through a scope must be questioned in court.

Finally, under Massachusetts law in unposted areas the officer must observe you speed over a certain distance (see: Mass General Laws 90/17). This makes the equipment's often touted ability to obtain instantaneous readouts detrimental rather than advantageous to the officer.

Not to be cynical about this, but in February 1999 Amadou Diallo was gunned down by the New York's Finest. Four police officers fired total of 41 bullets, hitting Mr. Diallo 19 times. (That equals 46.3%). He was simply standing in the vestibule of his apartment building only a dozen feet away from the officers. Then, three other NYC detectives were acquitted of all charges in the 50-shot killing of Sean Bell, an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day in November 2006. 16 shots entered Mr. Bell's body. (That's 32% of the shots fired.) Had these been traffic laser cases instead of a murder cases, those same officers would've undoubtedly testified under oath, they all possessed 100% accuracy hitting a moving object the size of a license plate at thousands of feet away - and every single time!

See also "How to beat a Speeding Ticket."

I realize this is a tall order, but:

• the further you go, the better your chances;
• you can bail out at any point;
• this process cannot make your situation any worse!

The only way to overturn a judge's decision is to file an appeal to the Appellate Court, but a complain about a judge's conduct can be filed by sending in this form.

Good luck and let me know how you did!
ma@motorists.org