My son lives in Boston (Brighton) and commutes to Southborough/Hopkinton for work. He works with autistic children and is mandated to work.
He has managed to get 3 speeding tickets and his license is now revoked so he can’t drive to work. He went to the Boston RMV yesterday and waited a few hours to get a hearing and was then told that he had to pay $50 and wait at least two weeks before he can get a hearing. I’d advised him to let them know he is a mandated worker and ask if they could let him drive to work and back. He forgot and left without doing so.
He did some research and said that he read in several places that he should let an attorney to go with him to the hearing. He has a letter from HR explaining his position.
There are a couple of coworkers willing to help out but his schedule varies every day and the hours are all over the place. Getting to Southborough is hard but doable by mass transit but Hopkinton is very difficult. Clearly a hardship.
With all that said, he understands and is prepared to deal with the consequences.
Any advice? BTW - we live in NY and know next to nothing about MA state laws.
I think the law in MA is 3 speeding tix within 12 months and you automatically get a 1 month suspension. Sounds like he’s going to waste that month or close to it. Another point (I think) and it’s 2 months. Oh, I found the points page: [url=<a href=“http://www.dmv.com/ma/massachusetts/rmv-point-system%5Dhere%5B/url”>http://www.dmv.com/ma/massachusetts/rmv-point-system]here[/url]. Bottom line: he should consider asking to take a driver “improvement” course - i.e., traffic school - and he’s going to be on probation no matter what because they track points for at least 3 years and more violations could be much worse.
I think it depends on how long the suspension is and how much money it will cost him in increased car insurance rates and alternate transportation vs. what a lawyer would cost him and how long the process will take and if a lawyer can even get the time and points reduced. If it were one of my boys I think I’d tell him to weight those variables and figure out what makes the most sense. I don’t know what car insurance is in Mass. or how bad a ding he’s going to take on insurance and how long he’s going to take that ding so hopefully he won’t be a lead foot anymore. When i met my H he was just finishing his many years in the bad driver insurance pool AKA going with the least amount of insurance legally required to keep costs down. He’s managed to keep his driving clean and ticketless for thirty years now. Sometimes young people need to get themselves in a bind before they start making mature decisions. Good luck to him. You can support him emotionally but it’s water under the bridge.
Re: mandated worker - I am not sure if I used the correct word. Because his charges are children who need their teachers and caregivers to be available 24/7, they are required to be at work no matter what. For example, he has something to show the police in the event he had to travel during a snow emergency. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that especially during this past winter but luckily, he never had an issue.
Yeah, I’m not getting how being a “mandated worker” should get one some kind of waiver for the consequences associated with repeated speeding tickets. Maybe I’ve misinterpreted.
Almost all states have a provision to allow driving to work or school on a suspended license. It is not automatic, and if he is stopped, he’ll need to prove he is headed to or from work.
Seems like he needs to find some other way of getting to work for now.
When the license suspension ends, he needs to learn how to drive more safely so that he does not attract citations or cause crashes. Yes, lots of people drive faster than the speed limit, but to get that many citations in a short time, he likely was speeding in a way that was noticeably flagrant and/or unsafe enough to attract a police officer’s attention.
Can you go there for a week and help out driving him back and forth? The other posters are likely to be right - he needs to find alternative transportation for a month or so. Also, can he take a week’s vacation during this month also?
I don’t know how old your son is, but it seems he is a working adult. The best thing would probably be for you to step back and let him handle this totally on his own. You should definitely not go help him out. Your son needs to figure out his own solution and if necessary, suffer the consequences for his actions. Hopefully it will make an impression.
From the MA DOT site I found this http://www.massrmv.com/rmv/suspend/index.htm
He will have his license suspended for 30 days, unless he was going fast enough for the the event to be catagorized as “major”, then it will be longer. I suggest he contest one or more of the speeding tickets if he hasn’t already paid them. He should also call one of the many lawyers that advertise they handle this type of thing. The lawyer will hopefully be up front during the free consult whether they can help or not. There is something called a hardship license that allows a person to drive to an from work. I have no idea how to get that.
After contesting he will be given a hearing date and usually the clerk of courts will usually take pity on you and do something to help you out with regards to insurance surcharges anyway. Trust me we have experience with this. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to get a hearing within 30 days. I also believe the three speeding tickets count as three surchargable events and he will have to take driver retraining at considerable cost. It is usually a one day affair held at a local hotel conference room.
He is going to get hit hard on his insurance, for something like 6 years. So even if he cannot get his license back for 30 days, he needs to challenge these tickets if it is not too late.
Sorry he is going through this. My son had issues with speeding and other moving violations and although he did not lose his license his insurance increase several thousands of dollars per year. Thank fully, he knew enough to challenge the tickets and was able to get 2 of them dismissed after he paid a relatively small fine and went to driver retraining. He has not had a ticket or other driving issue in over a year.
my 2 cents, I live in MA and got a NYC speeding ticket and hired a NYC traffic layer to fight it. it took 14 months but it was eventually dismissed. so, I like the lawyer idea. good luck!
Uber would probably cost him at least a $1000 for a month, for that perhaps he can find a friend to hire to drive him around during his suspension. I’m sorry to hear MA insurance is expensive like Michigan. It’s crazy how much insurance rates can go up for just 1 point let alone 3 points. A dear friend just learned that lesson when she got a point on her record for an infraction. Infractions remain on the record for 7 years in Michigan.