Speeding fine in Massachusetts
 

I am planning a trip to Calafornia in the summer with a two friends, one of whom received a speeding ticket in 1990 near Boston. Unfortunately he didn't pay the fine before his return to UK but has heard nothing more about it since. I am just wondering if they will catch up with him on entry to the USA (San Francisco) especially as he and the other friend will be the two drivers of our hire car. Should be grateful for any advice. Just proves that honesty is always the best policy and then we wouldn't have this worry now!

Well, if he really believes that honesty is the best policy, he could contact the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and settle up with them before he gets here:

http://www.mass.gov/rmv/

Inter-state computer links didn't exist in 1990, but they sure do now. So your friend would be taking his chances on whether older information has been put into the system. My guess is that it has not been.

I can't imagine that they would bother to put 18 year old speeding tickets - which are only violations, not crimes - into the criminal watch. IMHO the chance of this being found is essentially nil.

In any case - if it did turn up - California has no interest in collecting fines for speeding in Massachusetts in the last century.

I have no idea if a citation this old will still be in the system or not, however, when he did not pay the ticket, a Failure to Appear warrant for his arrest was issued. If he shows up in California and the warrant is still active, he would not be arrested because no state will extradite for traffic offenses. However, it may show up in the record check at the border and be enough to bar his entry to the country.

Speaking from personal experience...our 1984 speeding ticket from Arizona followed us to Maine. The ME registry would not renew the driver's license in 2001 until the ticket in AZ was paid. We had to pay the fine, AZ mailed us a form, we had to mail that form to another place in AZ and they mailed us the 'release' that we had to deliver to the Registry in Ellsworth. Having lived in MA, nothing would surprise me. Good luck- your mileage may vary : )

Bassharborbaby - Thanks to you and everyone for your replies - particularly interested to read your experience! May I ask if the fine you actually paid had increased in price over the 17 years, or did you pay the original fine plus costs? Expect each State is different as to how they treat such situations?

I actually thought this was a thread about how there are so few state troopers in Massachusetts due to cutbacks that the average speed on most highways is 15-20 miles over the limit.

Never mind.