Andover, Massachusetts Speed Traps

Andover police park in the bible chaple parking lot. From sunset to early morning hours.

Heading towards andover from lawrence, the cop will park in the industrial lot, or a lil ways up he’ll be in the voc tech’s parking lot. river road is another hot spot for speed traps. andover alone is a speed trap haven.

they hide almost always in the funeral home parking lot, just after you drive under 495. They’ll bag anyone going so much as 2 mph over speed limit. They’ll also hide on a side street maybe 2 blocks from same spot, or pull into the grass under 495. Rt 28, Main st is a hot spot for the cops, considering the station is just up the road.

I have been pulled over twice in Andover, once on Red Spring Road, where the road winds (if you’re heading west) past the high school. The other time was on High Street travelling North, about 1/4 a mile before route 133. Both times I was pulled over by an officer who was appointed specifically to traffic enforcement. He parks his motorcycle on the side of the road and uses a gun right from his bike. Someone else mentioned that Lawrence District Court does not help you out much, and I couldn’t agree more. The reason why rules of evidence don’t apply is because you are arguing before a Magistrate, not a judge. There is certain information you are entitled to regarding the training and testing of the radar gun, but they do not have any other authority. The information you are allowed to have is available by researching case law, which is available at the library upstairs on the second floor at the Fenton Judicial Center. Since I got out of both of my tickets, I believe that appealing is a good choice. Good luck!

The Andover PD regularly hides in private residence driveways on River Road and uses Radar to catch unwary drivers, especially vehicles exiting Rte 93 and proceeding Eastbound on River Road. The APD have brand new (6 months) radar units that have highly simplified controls. The officers typically have only about 8 total hours of formal training with radar equipment, and no regular retraining. It is apparent from the manner of use of their radar, that the APD officers know next to nothing about the proper use of the equipment. They take readings through chain link fences, in snow/rain storms, on curved roads, etc. all proscribed practices for traffic radar. The APD gets away with this sloppy practice very successfully as evidenced by the statistics posted on their web site. And the Lawrence district court actively discourages individual efforts to fight a ticket. The court will not allow a defendant sufficient time to lay the foundation for an effective defence; if you can’t say it all in 5-10 minutes, too bad. And, don’t depend on Mass General Law 66:10 to obtain records in that court, they don’t recognize that statute as having jurisdiction over the kind of records that pertain to traffic tickets, officer training records, radar maintenance records, etc. If you need records, go to the court clerk’s office and get a suponea issued. One last word of advice: technical defences don’t go over well in Lawrence District Court unless you can substantiate every single point (and I am assuming that you can somehow get the court to allow you do what you need to do in order to defend yourself).