[deleted]

Staties are the worst drivers when it comes to obeying driving laws.

Police and other emergency personnel are allowed to drive over the speed limit without lights or sirens if they are responding to a non emergency. When I was working EMS we had 3 levels of response. Level 1 was lights and sirens, 2 was quick but to lights and sirens, 3 was drive normal. So it's possible he was on a level 2 response somewhere, then when he saw you following him at a high rate of speed he told someone else to respond to the call so he could stop you .

Funny little fact too. Technically there's still a law on the books that says mail carriers are allowed to run red lights

I thought everyone knew you can get away with 75 on I-90 and sometimes 80. But that's it.

So, here’s the problem that I see - you don’t really have a great excuse for speeding. You had no idea if the officer was on their way to an emergency or semi-emergency call. Speeding because you were blindly following a cop is not a very smart excuse. (And for all you know, the officer was on his way to an emergency, and forgot to turn his lights on.) Just because someone else is doing something stupid/illegal doesn’t make it okay for you to join in.

I mean, I agree that it was a bit rude for the officer to give you a ticket, since no one should be above the law - and I agree that the officer most likely WAS also speeding.

"He did not have his lights on which I thought required him to obey posted traffic signs."

Aww, that's cute you still think cops actually obey any of the laws they don't want to.

​

" In my defense I was using him as a pace car since I believed he was required to follow posted speed limits per MA CH 89 Section 7B. "

Terrible defense since that is like saying, "Your honor, I assumed I was going the speed limit because I was following a cop and it never occurred to me to look at my own speedometer."

It doesn't matter what speed other drivers were doing. I'd just chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Foreign co-worker of mine got pulled over on I-90 out near Cleveland. He told the cop "Isn't the speed limit 90?" Cop: "What makes you think it is 90?" Co-worker points to the route number sign and says "See, 90" Cop rolls his eye and says "You win, get out of here, and slow down"

It's worth a shot.

It doesn’t really matter the nature of how you were pulled over. Whether the cop was in front of you, behind you, opposite lane, stationary, etc.

We’re you going 90? If not than appeal it.

So you thought 90 was the posted speed limit? Are you from Massachusetts? The highest speed limit we have here is 65. Maybe you could get a judge to reduce your fine or something if you act apologetic but I doubt blaming the police is gonna work. It would be pretty funny if they gave the cop a ticket too though.

If you're thinking of fighting this one and using that defence you should probably retrace that route and see if you passed any speed limit signs. If there aren't any on that stretch of road you may have a valid argument. I think you would have better luck just pretending you didn't know you were going so fast and asking for leniency.

The cop who writes the ticket isn't always the one who shows up in court if you fight it, so they may not even know anything more than what the cop wrote down on the ticket, and you could play it off like you just accidentally went over the speed limit briefly.

>He did not have his lights on which I thought required him to obey posted traffic signs.

Laws are for civilians, not police.

MA is one of the few states that doesn't have criminal speeding based on actual speed. In some states, going 90 in a 65 could have gotten you in jail up to 5 years.

Never hurts to try and fight it. You never know what will happen. I've successfully had 2 speeding tickets dismissed. I mean, what do you have to lose?

[deleted]

If you dont have priors go to court apologize to the judge and let him know this is out of character and give a sob story on why you were distracted that day. Guarantee it will be dropped or no points which is huge. If you get nothing you are in the same spot you are in right now. Worth a shot.

[removed]

I got my license taken away for something like this. No idea why! I didn’t even fuck around in the left lane. I’m so sad about it. I have cancer so I’ll probably be dead before I figure this out. Jeeeez

Section 7B. The driver of a vehicle of a fire, police or recognized protective department and the driver of an ambulance shall be subject to the provisions of any statute, rule, regulation, ordinance or by-law relating to the operation or parking of vehicles, except that a driver of fire apparatus while going to a fire or responding to an alarm, or the driver of a vehicle of a police or recognized protective department or the driver of an ambulance, in an emergency and while in performance of a public duty or while transporting a sick or injured person to a hospital or other destination where professional medical services are available, may drive such vehicle at a speed in excess of the applicable speed limit if he exercises caution and due regard under the circumstances for the safety of persons and property, and may drive such vehicle through an intersection of ways contrary to any traffic signs or signals regulating traffic at such intersection if he first brings such vehicle to a full stop and then proceeds with caution and due regard for the safety of persons and property, unless otherwise directed by a police officer regulating traffic at such intersection. The driver of any such approaching emergency vehicle shall comply with the provisions of section fourteen of chapter ninety when approaching a school bus which has stopped to allow passengers to alight or board from the same, and whose red lamps are flashing. Source

I’m not an attorney but I stayed at a Holiday Inn. This is entrapment.