Avoid the Mass Turnpike!

Ok since the state forums are down I'll post this here. Please move it to my state when its back up.

Our state has an entire state police barracks "Troop E" that patrols the mass turnpike only (I-90). This thing is a speed trap its entire way and its about to get even worse. Take Rt. 2 or 20

Speeding frenzy
Turnpike Authority ready to ring 'em up in 2008
By Sam Allis | December 30, 2007

The Observer steadfastly refuses to make resolutions or predictions about the new year. Resolutions are a joke and predictions a fool's game.

That said, there is one issue in the coming year that already gives me agita. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority announced before Christmas that it is looking for another $1.2 million in speeding tickets on the Pike in 2008.

What's breathtaking about this news is the bald admission that it's all about money. There's no pretense of safety. I've never heard of anything like this in my life. To be fair, Turnpike people maintain the first priority is always about safety, but that's risible in this case.

This is about money, pure and simple. It's in the budget, for God's sake. How you budget $1.2 million without creating quotas is beyond me, but Turnpike spokesman Mac Daniel contends there will be no such thing.

The Turnpike is, if nothing else, brave by going public with this shocker. Still, this is a bit like saying because Boston is short on dough, the city will start enforcing jaywalking laws to close the gap. In the name of public safety.

Daniel maintains half of the money is to make up for the revenue lost when upwards of 20 State Police troopers were transferred last year from the highways to police work around the Big Dig.

"We're a cash-starved agency," maintains Daniel. "We're not out to buff our coffers."

We get the $600,000 in lost revenue. But what about the other $600,000 to come from the rest of the Pike? That sure looks like a coffer buffer to me. And, while we're at it, is this really the best way to increase revenues? There's a capricious quality to this whole thing that gives me the willies.

We've always known that local police write tickets to help meet local budgets. We accept it. Streets need to be plowed. Fires need to be put out. Anyone old enough to get behind the wheel knows that ticket quotas are as integral a part of our culture as Fenway Franks. But this Turnpike play crosses the line.

The Authority, quite simply, is creating one long speed trap from West Stockbridge to Boston, which, to twist the words of James Taylor, may no longer seem dreamlike on account of that frosting.

Half of the dough is to come from the 12-mile stretch of the Mass Pike from the Weston tolls to Boston. That's six hundred grand in tickets. Fifty grand a mile. I wouldn't want to run that gantlet twice a day. Why not terrorize commuters from other points of the compass as well?

No one comes out for speeding, but everyone knows the whole speeding thing is off its runners. A ticket for driving 5 miles per hour over the posted limit on the Mass Pike gets you an annual spike in your auto insurance, already a root canal of a thing, for six years before you return to a clean bill of vehicular health.

This is wildly excessive. You used to address the arresting officer "Kind Sir," pay your fine, and drive slower. But this surcharge scheme, to the great benefit of those warm and fuzzy folks in the insurance biz, metes out punishment that simply does not fit the crime. In the name of safety.

I called the State Police to see if they'd throw me any crumbs about their new tactics. What are we walking about here? More unmarked cars? More speed traps. More tickets for driving 68 on the Pike? We've always traveled with the traffic flow just below 75 mph without getting nailed. Is this practice gone with the wind?

Sergeant Robert Bousquet referred me to Chapter 90: Section 17 of Massachusetts General Laws, which states that any speed over the posted limit shall be prima facie evidence that such speed is greater than is reasonable and proper.

So if I go 66 in a 65 mph zone, I can be stopped? Absolutely. Will I be stopped? Maybe.

Consider this: Since you can never go over the posted speed limit, ipso facto you can never top 65 on the Pike to pass another vehicle. It is impossible to overtake an 18-wheeler going 50 without busting the speed limit for a few seconds. So now you stay at 50, mile after mile.

Section 17 goes on to say that you can also get a speeding ticket for driving under the speed limit, say in bad weather, if a cop decides your speed is unreasonable under the circumstances. You could be going 50 on the Pike and still get nailed. That's a lot of discretion for a trooper charged with helping hit the $1.2 million ticket target.

Bousquet adds that you can even get a ticket for exceeding 15 mph within one-tenth of a mile of a vehicle used in hawking or peddling merchandise with amber lights flashing.

Like what? Like an ice cream truck. But if it's stopped, why limit me to 15 mph as I pass it? It might not be fully stopped. But how can you sell ice cream from a moving vehicle? It could be going very slowly as it comes to a stop.

It is at this point that I'm reminded of the Dirty Harry line: "You've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

We don't know how bad it will be on the Pike next year. But how good could it be with a $1.2 million ticket mandate in the budget?