Municipal leaders are asking the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee to make it easier for towns to lower their speed limits, saying the current process is time-consuming and costly.
The committee’s public hearing Monday included testimony on proposals to change that procedure, along with a range of other bills legislators have filed, such as increasing the penalty for a high-speed chase and strengthening enforcement of the state’s seat belt law.
A 2016 law allows towns to the lower speed limit to 25 mph on some roadways, but they must first have an analysis completed to determine whether a road is eligible, then get approval from the state Department of Transportation. Municipalities can also establish for 20 mph safety zones, which require a $5,000-$10,000 traffic engineering study and MassDOT approval.
Sen. Joanne Comerford introduced a bill that would eliminate those requirements. According to her legislative director, "The 2016 law allows localities to set speed limits at 25 mph only in what's termed 'thickly settled districts,' defined as a road where houses or other buildings are located, on average, less than 200 feet apart. ... However, a city or town might want to have a lower limit on roads that don't meet the strict definition. Under current law, this is not permitted."
State Rep. Tommy Vitolo of Brookline told the committee that roads that were not "thickly settled" in the past have seen further development since the law was passed, and in many cases would now qualify for the lower 25 mph speed limit. His bill would amend the law and permit roads with a 30 mph speed limit to be changed by local authorities.
“My community has perhaps two dozen roads that, by all measures, ought to be 25 miles per hour,” he said. “My town has done everything it can do with the state to reduce the speed limit signs. But MassDOT says no. The law that we, the Legislature, passed [in 2016] does not allow it.”
Greenfield Councilor Otis Wheeler shared Vitolo’s concern. He said it’s difficult to get MassDOT’s permission to reduce speed limits.
“The fact is, it's not safe to drive 30 miles an hour through a residential neighborhood,” he said. “A pedestrian hit by a car going 25 miles an hour will on average live, but one hit by a car going 30 to 35 will not.”
Another set of bills before the committee would toughen the penalties for drivers who fail to stop for police and then lead them on high-speed chases. Under current law, the most serious criminal charge that can be brought against these drivers is a misdemeanor punishable by an $100 fine. The measure being considered by the commitee would strengthen the penalties to make such crimes felonies punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.
Stephen Gagne, the first assistant district attorney for the Northwestern District consisting of Hampshire and Franklin counties, testified that it should be a felony-level offense, punishable by up to five years in state prison.
“This proposed legislation would close a gaping loophole in our criminal statutes by providing stiff penalties for those who try to flee the police by driving ‘Dukes of Hazzard’–style on our highways and through our neighborhoods, endangering the lives and safety of anyone in their path,” he said.
Echoing Gagne’s concern was South Hadley Police Chief Jennifer Gunderson, representing the Massachusetts Chiefs Police Association. She said the bill will improve public safety.
“This bill increases the penalty for drivers who purposely flee our police officers and then drive recklessly on the road, endangering themselves, endangering the public and endangering the police officers,” she said. “Unfortunately, the current statute and failure to stop does not offer a punishment or any consequences that effectively serve as a deterrent for the operator that flees us.”
The committee also heard testimony in support of changing Massachusetts’ seat belt law to primary status, which would make it possible for police to pull drivers over for that offense alone without first citing them for another, which is the procedure in place now.
Jeff Larason, director of highway safety at Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, said Massachusetts has consistently had a low seat belt use rate . Citing AAA statistics he said “Nationally, the seat belt use rate is over 90 percent and once again here in 2021, Massachusetts ranks near the bottom,” he said. “As our seat belt use rate dropped 4 percent, we're now down to 77.5 percent.”
Of particular concern are males aged 18 to 35, Larason said: only about half of them regularly wear seat belts.
It’s a measure that has been rejected in the past because of concerns about racial profiling. But Larason noted that was also an issue with the state’s new hands-free bill that allows police to stop anyone using a cellphone or other electronic device with their hands while driving.
“The recently passed hands-free bill requires the collecting of racial data with regard to ticketing enforcement. And it also calls for that data to be analyzed and to be made publicly available,” he said, suggesting that a same process could be used in an updated seat belt law.
The Joint Committee on Transportation will consider all of the bills that have been filed and decide which, if any, to advance for a full vote in the Legislature.
