Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
Officers make judgement calls all the time. I've been stopped for speeding about a half a dozen times in my life and I only got on ticket. I think that mainly it was because I didn't have any prior violations and I was very nice about the whole thing. I always admitted that I was going a bit too fast and that I lost my concentration for a bit and I apologized. In almost every case, the officer let me off.
Where I come from the law states that if you are the second or third car in line at a stop sign, you only have to stop once. You may proceed without stopping if there are no other cars in the intersection. I did that down here once right in front of an officer. I was surprised when he pulled me over. I explained the Massachusetts law and that I had just moved down here. He just said to me, "Well, that's not the law down here. Don't do it again." I thank him and was on my way. The officer made a reasonable judgement call.
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From Mass. Law Updates, May 23, 2011
Massachusetts Law Updates: Can the second and third cars in line proceed through a stop sign?
This is one of the most common questions we get. People who learned to drive in Massachusetts some years ago were taught that it was OK, and don't quite believe that the law (MGL c.89, s.9) says otherwise. Happily, the Boston Globe printed a column this weekend, Some old habits aren’t right, or safe, anymore, that spells it out and quotes the experts. So, although it may have been the law "in the 1960s and early 1970s," now every car must stop when they are "at the point nearest the intersecting roadway."