Snow’s Coming, Massachusetts! Make Sure You Do This Or Pay A $200 Fine

What I'm about to transcribe here is, in fact, a true story. Yes, this actually happened to me. Not this year, thank goodness, but several winters ago. And it's a story that I love sharing with people. It might save you the cost of a potentially hefty fine.

Again, this incident happened several winters ago(I couldn't even tell you which winter month it happened, to be honest) after a particularly nasty snowstorm. I was out and about in my car, probably running some errands for my parents.

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I'm heading down Dalton Division Road toward Williams Street, minding my business, when I'm suddenly pulled over by one of Pittsfield's finest. I know that I wasn't speeding so I start to get all jumpy and nervous because I'm thinking to myself why did he pull me over?

And then the police officer shared with me the reason that he pulled me over. He explained to me that because I hadn't cleared all the snow off my car before going out on the roadways, I could be subject to a potential $200 fine.

Now I can assure you faithful readers(and fellow drivers!) that the snow that still remained on my vehicle was not in any way blocking any of the windows or side mirrors(in other words, obstructing my view of the road, front, back, and sides). And by the way, that's the same thing I assured the officer.

He carefully(and politely, I might add) explained to me that what I did was good just not good enough. He further explained that it was very possible that the snow that was on the roof of my car could very easily slide down onto my windshield and obstruct my view of the road.

And if my view was obstructed, even for the briefest of moments, that made me a danger to vehicles in front of me, vehicles coming toward me in the other lane, and possible pedestrians walking along the sides of the road. Well, that sure made sense to me.

Now keep in mind, the Pittsfield Police officer(who sadly remains nameless) could have been a complete ass. He would have been well within his rights to slap me with a $200 fine but perhaps because I was calm, rational, and genuinely sorry for not doing what I should have done before I left my driveway that morning, he let me go with just a warning(before making me clear the rest of the snow from my car, of course).

With snow (possibly heavy) in the upcoming forecast, I figured I would just pass along that story to you. If you do not remove all the ice and snow from your vehicle before you venture out on the roads, you could be fined for driving with an "unsecured load" and fined up to 200 bucks.

In addition, if you're traveling on the Mass Pike and you have ice and snow on your vehicle, you could be fined $100. Just a friendly word of caution, Berkshire County. Be careful out there.