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

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

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

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, 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.

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

Haha if there’s a DMV person, I am dying and need to visit my aunt in western Mass before it all ends. she raised me after my parents died . I dare you to throw me a bone.

Ok, but saying the other guy was speeding too isn’t really a good excuse for speeding. Were you actually going 90? I’d imagine a judge saying fine, then, I’ll give you a ticket for going 90 and I’ll handle the cop’s case later.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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?

This also worked for one of my foreign co-workers except they were on 195. The cop couldn't stop laughing and gave him a friendly warning.

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

Laws are for civilians, not police.

That doesn’t really matter. The cop isn’t going to get a ticket for 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.

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" 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."

Yep, getting right behind them is just asking for trouble. ACAB.

Almost caused an accident when they were pulling someone over on rt 2. Had no regard for the other drivers on the road. He was so stuck on nabbing this black kid that he was willing to put others at danger. Could not be bothered to wait until it was safe. Fuck Staties. They all suck. ACAB

If you are legit dying why not just drive out there without a license? What's the worst they could do? I don't think they would throw a cancer patient in jail and I doubt you would get caught.

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.

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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.

Scum humans