As reported by The Associated Press, Officer Michael Petrillo had issued a ticket to Kathleen Savolt, who happened to also be the mayor of the town, Mamaroneck, NY. The ticket was for using her cell phone while driving. Savolt appealed the ticket, arguing that the incoming call was an emergency, and that she was not in an area where she could safely pull over. The presiding judge agreed, dismissing the ticket on September 15.

Officer Petrillo, however, had other ideas. That night, he rang Savolt’s door and issued her a second ticket for the same infraction. He stated to Savolt, “I think the ticket was unfairly dismissed, so I’m issuing a duplicate ticket.”

This is, by any standard, a gross abuse of Officer Petrillo’s authority. Police officer’s are given power to issue citations and make arrests, and then it falls to the courts to decide whether these citations and arrests were valid. The parties will always be the defendant, and the state, who will either be a prosecutor or the issuing police officer, depending on the infraction and local rules. If the court reaches a decision that either party does not like, the party’s recourse is to appeal this decision. The state, or its agents, may NOT simply begin the process anew by issuing a new citation or arresting the defendant again.

The implications of Officer Petrillo’s actions are incredibly far reaching. If this action is deemed ok, you could just be arrested again any time you are acquitted. Sounds like something out of the iron curtain or a Kafka novel. In fact, such a system is so grossly a violation of any common notion of civil rights that there is specifically a provision in the Constitution against such “double jeopardy” (being charged for the same crime in the same forum more than once).

The second ticket will definitely be thrown out, but I’m curious if the Mayor will pursue any other legal action against Officer Petrillo or the city for what is a violation of her rights.

 

It’s the time of year people start buying snow tires, so what better time to write a review? Having spent the last two years ice racing and trying to wring the most performance from a set of winter tires on an icy track, I’d like to share my insights into what makes a good snow and ice tire.

Why Snow Tires?

First, a few words on why you should buy snow tires at all. Snow tires make the single biggest difference in bad weather traction, period. As I have long stated, there is no substitute for a good snow tire. I will recommend a RWD car with snow tires over a 4WD/AWD car with “all-season” tires, every time. One prominent auto magazine a few years ago ran a snow driving comparison with a RWD Porsche wearing snow tires versus an Audi with all-season tires. The Porsche won hands down, owing entirely to the tire choice. When a freak Nor’easter caught us last December during evening rush hour, I was stuck in the worst traffic jam I have ever seen — for FOUR HOURS on what should have been a 30-min trip — simply because nobody bothered to buy snow tires. There is no excuse for not having a proper winter tire.

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As is often the case these days, most branches of the Massachusetts government are looking for more revenue for their budgets. This is certainly the case for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which has recently proposed almost doubling most of the tolls along the Mass Turnpike inside of the 128 belt. This plan has been met with some hostility, as would be expected, and one alternative plan proposed was to increase Massachusetts’ gas tax from its current ~23 cents per gallon to 30 cents per gallon. This would spread out the tax to more people in the state, rather than to the smaller percentage of people that use the Pike. 30 cents per gallon tends to be the average tax imposed my most states, so its actually quite curious that Massachusetts has kept its tax so low for so long.

CNET reports the new Nissan 370Z features an automatically rev-matching manual transmission:

“six-speed SynchroRev Match manual transmission, which is the worlds first synchronized downshift rev matching system. The system “blips” the throttle on downshifts and upshifts, matching engine speed to the next chosen gear, smoothing out gear changes.”

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with this. It’s basically the bridge between a fully computer-shifted gearbox and a real manual transmission. The number of components Nissan would have needed to add is very small; a sensor to detect gear position and a little extra code in the ECU is all it would take. Most cars these days have throttle-by-wire, in which the engine computer controls throttle opening based on pedal position and there is no mechanical linkage between the pedal and the throttle plate. If the computer knows what gear you’ve shifted to (up OR down), the gear ratio, and how fast the car is going, it can figure out what engine speed it needs to hit by the time you let out the clutch. The only problem I can see with this system is that it has to work in-between when the clutch is depressed and when the clutch is released, which might not be enough time to make the rev match smooth enough.

Luckily, for those of us who know how to drive and like having complete control, SynchroRev Match comes with a button you can press to disable it.

On my way to work this morning, I saw gas for $1.99 a gallon. Granted, it was at the kind of gas station that probably cuts their gas with tap water, but we’ve still broken the mystical $2/gallon barrier here in the Bay State.

Like most people, Christina Downs was not particularly pleased when she received a ticket for going 48 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Like some people, Downs contested her ticket. Unlike most people, Downs continued to contest her ticket, all the way up to the Maine Supreme Court.

Not surprisingly, the Maine Supreme Court ruled against Down, affirming the conviction handed down by the lower courts. The text of their decision can be found here. Decision No. Mem 08-166, Docket No. Yor-08-121. In my experience, you are guilty until proven innocent in traffic court, and the burden of proving innocence, in practice, is virtually insurmountable. A far better approach is to plead guilty and ask the court for lenience. As this case demonstrates again, actually proving innocence in a traffic court case is a very long, slippery slope to climb.

But far more interesting from a legal perspective is how the rules of evidence and discovery played out in this case. Down appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court under the theory that the court erred in not requiring proof of engineering and traffic studies to support the 25 MPH speed limit. The court held that this was not a reversible error, and that, absent any proof, posted speed limits are sufficient to establish 1) the speed limit and 2) that the speed limit was determined in accordance with law. The issue of course is how do you prove number 2? The most logical approach is Down’s approach - request and review all of the documents showing how the State, County, or Town arrived at the speed limit and then show that the evidence does not supported the speed limit. The only other option would be to hire one’s own expert in speed limit determination and offer a differing account. Good luck finding such an expert, let alone one that is actually willing to testify on your behalf.

There is also the general principle that you should be entitled to all available evidence that may pertain to your case. This is called the “Discovery” phase of any trial - civil or criminal - and is the cornerstone of the American legal system’s validity. The opinion doesn’t reflect whether the evidence was specifically denied, or whether there simply was no evidence requested. What it says actually dismisses the issue entirely, as the Court says that it is not necessary at all.

Which gets us back to the main question: how do you prove question 2? The Court’s answer: you DON’T NEED to prove question 2. It is presumed to be valid. While skeptics of speed limits might cringe at this conclusion, as a matter of law I cannot find much fault with it. Most laws on the books are presumed valid regardless of how the legislating authority arrived at the specifics of the law.

So what is the take away point? In Maine, speed limits are valid unless you have proof to the contrary, and the burden is on you to produce that evidence. My guess is other states would rule the same way.

So much for high gas prices! I thought the days of cheap gas were long gone, at least for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, I was wrong this time. Can we break the $2/gallon barrier? I’m betting we will, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for now…

As reported by ridelust.com, Police in Michigan have conceded that speeding tickets are actually about money, not safety. While I’ve been saying as much for a while, it is certainly more poignant coming straight fromt the horses mouth:

“I’ve spent eight years in traffic services, and I was a crash reconstructionist for five years before that,” Michigan State Police Lieutenant Gary Megge told the News. “So I’ve seen my share of fatal wrecks, and I can tell you: Deaths are not caused by speeding. They’re caused by drinking, drugs and inattentiveness. The old adage that speed kills just isn’t realistic. The safest speed is the speed that is correct for that roadway at a given time. A lot of speed limits are set artificially low.”

So if speed enforcement doesn’t make us safer, why are the police constantly writing speeding tickets? It’s about the money, obviously. All local governments, from towns right up to the state, can get a piece of each of the money paid by every speeding ticket issued. It is, for all intents and purposes, simply a tax. It is a tax that politicians need not take any flack for, and which they can actually spin as a public safety necessity. Not a bad racket at all.

But the most obnoxious part about speeding tickets is not the money. Yes, every speeding ticket can cost you thousands of dollars by the time you have paid the citation and the accompanying insurance surcharges that go along with it. The worst part is that as speeding tickets add up, your license can be suspended. Yes, you usually have to be driving so obnoxiously so often that you actually tally up enough tickets to affect your license, but as the system works, you are in jeopardy virtually every time you go on the highway.

Yes, you read that right. $2.19/gallon for regular gas, and I’ve even seen it for a bit cheaper at some off-brand gas stations. The amazing part is that literally less than a year ago (probably much more recent than that, but I don’t recall specific dates for specific gas prices) I had seen that same gallon go for almost $2 more/gallon. More amazing is that $2.19 really isn’t all that far off from what gas prices were like pre-gas crisis. Finally, MOST amazing is that gas prices actually came down this much this fast. Usually, it takes a lot longer for prices to go down than it does for them to go up.

So why the sudden drop in gas prices? I’m no market analyst, but the easy explanation is that the price per barrel of oil has dropped. The next question is, why did the oil market tank? That is a question the smartest minds in the financial world are haggling over as we speak, so I’ll leave a more educated response to them.