(Boston Globe Photo / Tom Herde)
It's a typical roadside scene: A motorist cruising over the speed limit gets pulled over by a local police officer, who begins to write a ticket.
What happens next depends on which town you happen to be in when you are pulled over.
A Globe survey of 2007 traffic ticket data from 18 area towns found that some police departments are much more likely to give a driver a break than others.
In Duxbury, Quincy, and Mattapoisett, officers gave drivers written warnings - rather than a full citation - at least three-quarters of the time.
The warnings carry no fine and are essentially a slap on the wrist.
But drivers beware in Marshfield, Hull, and Milton. In those towns, motorists got hit with civil citations 80 percent or more of the time. The citations can carry hefty fines and can lead to auto insurance increases.
Police officials, told of the findings, expressed surprise at the differences between communities and were hard-pressed to explain them. They did offer some theories: Police cultures might vary, from strict enforcement to a more lenient approach, or communities with a large number of commuters might take a stricter line. Or maybe younger officers are more aggressive in some communities, they suggested.
Others wondered if the data might be flawed because some communities track verbal warnings, while others do not. (Verbal warnings were not counted in the data.)
All interviewed agreed that ticketing - whether to give a warning or a citation - is up to the individual officer's discretion, and that officers do not have citation quotas. Police officials also insisted that towns don't use traffic tickets as a revenue tool - a claim that was greeted with skepticism by some drivers.
Chiefs said ticket revenue, which amounts to half the fine, goes to a community's general fund, not their departmental budget.
In Duxbury, where officers gave the most warnings and fewest citations, Chief Mark DeLuca said: "The primary purpose of the stop is education. If the officer is convinced that the person they pulled over has gotten the picture, then they've done their job. The idea is to make sure the person doesn't speed again."
In Marshfield the situation was just the opposite: Officers tended to give many more citations than warnings. Drivers got away with just a warning in only 14.7 percent of the traffic stops, the lowest of the towns surveyed.
William P. Sullivan, chief in Marshfield, said the results sound "draconian," but the data might be incomplete.
"Probably many stops end up in verbal warnings," which are not reflected in the department's numbers, he said. If those were taken into account, the numbers might not appear so harsh.
Getting a ticket can often be infuriating. To appeal means taking a day off from work to plead one's case in court.
The traffic ticket hearing room in Quincy District Court was standing-room-only recently with frustrated motorists arguing their cases before a clerk magistrate.
Outside the room, Kathy Madden of Weymouth was jubilant after beating a $100 ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign in Weymouth. She argued that since she couldn't see the hidden officer who ticketed her, there was no way the officer could see her or her alleged traffic violation. She brought along pictures of the intersection to help prove her point.
"I drive fairly safely, anyways," she said.
"Obviously, now I'll be more careful at stop signs."
Wayne Power of Hyde Park, a 54-year-old musician, was set to plead his case on a $160 ticket in Weymouth for speeding - traveling 40 mph in a 30 mph zone - among other things. He fumed about the "revenue-raising ticket."
And, he said, he was obeying the speed limit. "If I drive like a cowboy, my load will shift," said Power, whose vehicle was laden with equipment.
Chiefs said they rarely get involved with how officers ticket.
"I always leave it up to the officers on the street," said Quincy Chief Robert F. Crowley.
Officers are as aware as anyone else that a civil citation takes a bite out of a driver's wallet, he said, reviewing numbers which showed his officers to be more lenient.
"I don't think they want to burden the public with additional expenses," he said.
He wondered if the numbers varied because officers in the city had other pressing priorities, such as domestic disputes, robberies, and burglaries.
Lieutenant Irving Wallace in Wareham, where warnings made up 28.3 percent of tickets, said, "The officer . . . makes a stop and makes a decision on how to handle it.
"Enforcement is supposed to be an educational tool," he added, "and giving a citation isn't always the best educational tool.
Sometimes a written or verbal warning is a better method."
If the chatter at Arthur and Pat's restaurant in Marshfield one recent day is any indication, motorists (not surprisingly) tend to favor the "warning is better" approach.
Paul Crowell of Scituate said police should be less heavy-handed with tickets.
"I think you should have warnings" he said, "so you can change the error of your ways."
Matt Carroll can be reached at mcarroll@globe.com.
Correction: A story and chart last Sunday about differences among towns in issuing speeding tickets misstated how often Milton police gave citations, rather than warnings, in 2007. Written warnings, which carry no penalty, were issued about 81 percent of the time; citations were issued about 19 percent of the time.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
