Many ways to spell “speed trap”

Every five minutes a Massachusetts driver gets an undeserved speeding ticket. Every hour a Massachusetts driver gets a federally-funded speeding ticket. Your state, like mine, gets federal funding to run speed traps. Every year the state bureaucracy generates a highway safety grant proposal and status report and sends it to the National Highway Traffic Safety […]

Stop driving properly

Police in Newton, Massachusetts have a new web site showing causes of accidents on city streets. Somebody didn’t get the memo about progressive transportation slogans. First, they use the plain English word “accident” instead of the newspeak “crash.” And they put speed were it belongs, 19th out of 21 causes. Including maps, it’s a useful […]

More of the iceberg revealed

As the Massachusetts State Police corruption scandal arrest count grows, the Boston Globe reports on why we don’t hear more about police corruption. Few people in state government have a problem with it. This year’s roundup is led by federal prosecutors. When police are accused of theft in state court magistrates make the charges disappear […]

Choose your victims well

There’s a legal principle called the “eggshell skull” rule. It says you have an obligation to choose your victims well. I’ll tell you the rest of the story about three men who chose poorly. I’ve mentioned them before when the cases were still pending. Their crimes would have been much less, or not prosecuted, if […]

Another driving distraction

Several weeks ago a woman was knocked off a speed table and died in a low speed accident. It was the first traffic death in Belmont since 2009 so town officials had to be seen doing something. Guess what local politicians want to do? If you guessed throw some money at the problem you’re right […]

Salem, MA Speed Limits at Stake: NMA E-Newsletter #508

Ivan Sever, Life Member and former NMA Massachusetts State Coordinator, has never been one to sit back and just take it. About a year ago, the Salem City Council voted to lower the speed limit on Swampscott Road, a busy route driven frequently by Sever, from 40 to 25 mph. No speed study, no discussion, […]

Falling from on high

I’ve written before about Belmont, Massachusetts’ attempts to punish drivers on Lexington Street by posting nuisance stop signs, a car-eating speed table, and an illegal speed trap. That street is in local news recently after an accident on the speed table killed a pedestrian. None of the traffic obstruction measures made a difference because they […]

Boston’s speed limit experiment failed

The IIHS got some press this week when they found reducing Boston’s speed limit did not slow down Boston’s traffic. That’s what the data said. They lied to the press, saying the city cut down the number of speeders, and got their spin all over the news. Anybody who knows how speed limits work knows […]

Quotas are serious business

One Massachusetts state trooper is headed to federal prison for a year and dozens more may follow him. They failed to make ticket quota. The crime officially charged is theft from an agency receiving federal funds. They got paid overtime to run speed traps and they didn’t run speed traps. State Police Troop E, disbanded […]

Maintain radio silence

Did you remember to turn on airplane mode on your phone when driving through Belmont, Massachusetts? Town officials want to ban nonresidents from town roads. Part of their plan is to track your phone to catch you trespassing. Phones and tablets are very talkative. Even when you’re not using them they’re transmitting signals to see […]