Articles Posted in Traffic Violations

77-Year-Old Jane Berghold, the woman who accidentally drove her car into Brockton Hospital last October, has been sentenced to 18 months probation and the revocation of her driver’s license for 15 years. Yesterday, the Rockland senior pled guilty in a Massachusetts court to two counts of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle and one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

Two people died and two others were seriously injured in the fatal drive-thru that occurred when the breast cancer patient’s car flew through the front windows of the hospital’s radiation therapy unit. The victims’ family members said that given her age and medical condition, they believed Berghold’s punishment was appropriate.

Berghold initially told police that she tried to stop the car by stepping on the brakes but it kept moving. She later admitted to the possibility that she may have accidentally stepped on the gas pedal instead. A police probe found that the car sped up to 25 mph before crashing into the hospital.

The deadly accident involving Berghold, is one of a few serious accidents involving elderly drivers that is raising renewed interest in establishing driving laws directed at senior drivers in Massachusetts. In another recent incident in February, an 8-year-old girl was suffered internal injuries, a fractured skull, and a broken leg when an 86-year-old man accidentally struck her with his SUV in front of her Randolph elementary school.

One bill under consideration would mandate that drivers older than 85 take road and vision tests every five years.

In Massachusetts-unlike many other US states-there are no laws that specifically address elderly drivers.

Woman gets probation in fatal hospital crash, Boston.com, May 7, 2008
Patrick calls for tests of elderly drivers, PatriotLedger.com, February 8, 2008

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Danger: elderly driver ahead, Boston.com, February 14, 2008
Elderly drivers pose policy-making challenge, Stateline.org, April 29, 2004 Continue reading

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority reportedly set a $2.3 million Dig speeding ticket goal for next year-that’s $1.7 million more than 2007. Motorists in the Boston area are expected to be hardest hit by this new target mark, which came about after the Big Dig Tunnel’s collapse, which deplete trooper resources as police officers were forced away from the task of catching speeding motorists while they monitored reconstruction efforts.

To fulfill this goal, radar enforcement will be emphasized.

Across Massachusetts, The turnpike anticipates $5.8 million in speeding ticket revenue for 2008. Revenue for speeding tickets in Massachusetts this year was at $4.6 million.

If you are issued a speeding ticket anywhere in Massachusetts, you should speak with an experienced Massachusetts traffic violations attorney about your case.

Not only will you be ordered to pay a speeding fine, but a speeding ticket can increase your insurance premium. A traffic violations lawyer can help you fight the offense-especially if this is your second or third violation.

The General Laws of Massachusetts:

Chapter 90: Section 17. Speed limits

No person operating a motor vehicle on any way shall run it at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to traffic and the use of the way and the safety of the public.

In Massachusetts, the state and auto insurance companies work together to set insurance rates. A traffic ticket immediately results in insurance surcharges. In order to eliminate these surcharges, you cannot get another ticket for at least three years.

Massachusetts State Police Goal: $1.2 Million More Speeding Tickets, The Newspaper.com, December 19, 2007
Troopers target speeders to replenish Pike coffers, BostonHerald.com, December 18, 2007
Chapter 90: Section 17. Speed limits, General Laws of Massachusetts

Related Web Resources:

It pays to avoid a speeding ticket — or fight one, MSN.com
Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles
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Massachusetts Senator Richard Moore has resumed efforts to hold drivers that fall asleep at the wheel accountable for their actions. He recently re-submitted a bill that would make sleeping while driving a more serious criminal offense.

Senator More first submitted “Rob’s Law” three years ago. The legislation followed the death of US Army Major Robert Raneri, who died in a 2002 motor vehicle crash when a teen driver who hadn’t slept for 24 hours crashed into Raneri’s vehicle. The driver got his license suspended for 10 years and served 5 years probation for Raneri’s death.

The National Sleep Foundation conducted a national poll in 2005. The poll found that 37% of adult drivers have fallen asleep while driving. 11 million people say they were nearly involved or were involved in a car crash because they lacked sleep.

Senator Moore wants a driver to potentially be charged with vehicular homicide if he or she causes a car accident while having been asleep at the wheel. A person convicted of vehicular homicide in Massachusetts could pay fines as high as $5,000 and as much as 15 years in prison. Sleeping drivers who injure other drivers on the road would also be held accountable with stiffer criminal sentences.

Rob’s Law stipulates that a sleep disorder expert be a member on the Registry of Motor Vehicles’ medical advisory board. Police would be able to bring sleep drivers into protective custody. Police would also be trained in monitoring drowsy drivers on the road.

Critics of the bill are not confident in the police’s ability to accurately figure out whether or not exhaustion or sleep was the reason a driver caused a car collision.

Drowsy driving is most likely to occur when:

• The driver is in the car alone.
• The driver is driving late at night.
• The driver is sleep deprived or exhausted.
• The driver is driving on a road where there aren’t many other cars.

Signs you might be sleepy while you are driving:

• You are having problems focusing on the road • You keep yawning • Your head keeps bobbing down • You feel sleepy • Your car keeps driving into the next lane • You can’t remember where you’ve been for the past few minutes
Bill would punish sleepy drivers, The Milford Daily News, October 14, 2007
Driving on the Edge — A Mobile Society on Too Little Sleep, Prescription for Sleep

Related Web Resources:

Massachusetts Senator Moore address at Sleep and Health Benefit Dinner, Sleep Medicine: Division of Harvard Medical School
National Sleep Foundation
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Pop Superstar Britney Spears has been charged with one misdemeanor count of hit and run driving and one misdemeanor count of driving without a valid California driver’s license. The incident allegedly took place last August at a San Fernando Valley parking lot where she is accused of smashing her vehicle into a car and then leaving the accident scene.

On video footage shot by the paparazzi, Spears is seen hitting another motor vehicle with her car while trying to park her car in a space at the lot. The footage shows her examining the damage to her vehicle and then leaving the accident scene.

The owner of the other vehicle, Kim Robard-Rifkin, filed a report with the LAPD on August 9, three days after the hit and run accident. She says she discovered that Britney was the alleged suspect that hit her car when she read about the incident on CelebTV.com. She says she just wants her car repaired.

Each misdemeanor count carries a jail sentence of up to six months and a $1,000 maximum fine in California. Spears’s arraignment is scheduled for October 10.

Whenever you are in a motor vehicle accident, you are expected-by law-to remain at the accident scene and exchange contact information with any other parties that are involved. If a driver hits a parked motor vehicle, the majority of U.S. states require that the driver responsible for causing the accident make a reasonable attempt to notify the other driver of the accident.

In Massachusetts, a driver has five days to report the motor vehicle accident if the collision resulted in injury or death or there was property damage greater than $1,000.

Here is the Massachusetts law regarding hit and run driving from the General Laws of Massachusetts:

Chapter 90: Section 26. Accident reports; supplemental report; penalty for violation
Section 26. Every person operating a motor vehicle which is involved in an accident in which any person is killed or injured or in which there is damage in excess of one thousand dollars to any one vehicle or other property shall, within five days after such accident, report in writing to the registrar on a form approved by him and send a copy thereof to the police department having jurisdiction on the way where such accident occurred; provided, however, that such police department shall accept a report filed by an owner or operator whose vehicle has been damaged in an accident in which another person has unlawfully left the scene of such accident. Such report shall not be required during the period of incapacity of any person who is physically incapable of making a report. If the operator is not the owner of the vehicle and is physically incapable of making such written report, the owner shall within five days after the accident make such report based on such knowledge as he may have and such information as he can obtain regarding the accident.

The registrar may revoke or suspend the license of any person violating any provision of this section.

If you have been charged with hit and run driving in Massachusetts or of driving without a valid license, you should hire an experienced criminal defense attorney who is knowledgeable about traffic violations cases to represent you.

You have the right to remain silent until you speak with a criminal defense lawyer. It is a good idea to exercise this right if you don’t want to accidentally incriminate yourself.

Britney Spears faces hit-run charge, CNN, September 22, 2007
Spears Charged with Brit and Run, TMZ, September 21, 2007
Chapter 90: Section 26. Accident reports; supplemental report; penalty for violation, The General Laws of Massachusetts
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Hit and Run Cases, Online Lawyer Source Continue reading