MA Law Information

[isthar]

I read the NYS Law Information sticky, and I think MA could use such a thread too.

In general, this is where you can read it all:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/gl-90-toc.htm

Of particular interest:

You must have front and rear license plates (VERY rare exception exists):
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-6b.htm

You cannot replace the exhaust system to make the sound louder than factory. Keep it same or lower, and you're good.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-7.htm simply buries this:

" Every motor vehicle so operated shall be provided with a muffler or other suitable device to prevent unnecessary noise..."

(i.e. you need a muffler or something trying to prevent unnecessary noise) but the part everyone cares for is here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-16.htm:

" No person shall operate a motor vehicle on any way which motor vehicle is equipped (...) or (2) with an exhaust system which has been modified in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the exhaust."

Note that http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-7o.htm says you cannot remove anything that was designed to reduce pollutants.


Dealer badges: we were all supposed to have given, IN WRITTEN, consent to have those badges. I betcha we didn't? Anyways, the law also lets you demand that they take them off and restore it fully: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-7r.5.htm

Tint: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-9d.htm
You need to have TWO side mirrors, or else you can't tint!
If you pass that simple test, you can tint all side and rear windows to 35%, as most of us know. Register as a public livery vehicle and you can do whatever you want...

An interesting one of default speed limits:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-17.htm
It gives distance readings over which you have to have been moving faster than the speed limit, mostly quarter-miles. So I guess you can gun it and as long as you get back to the speed limit before covering that distance, you're fine (probably to allow you to overtake, which DISPELS what most people say: "you cannot exceed the speed limit even to overtake other cars"). A quote:

"(...) it shall be prima facie evidence of a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper as aforesaid (1) if a motor vehicle is operated on a divided highway outside a thickly settled or business district at a rate of speed exceeding fifty miles per hour for a distance of a quarter of a mile, "

Hope this helps.

[tWeEzY]

good look'n out dawg

[Pulski]

Nothing new to me, but good post anyway. Chapter 90 tells you just about everything you'd want to know regarding motor vehicle laws.