Massachusetts Pike Drivers See Increase in Tickets

An anti-toll activist is criticizing a sharp increase in the number of speeding tickets being handed out by state troopers along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The Boston Herald reported Wednesday that the number of speeding tickets given on the 138-mile highway in the first three months of 2009 has risen by 844 compared with the same period last year. It’s also up 23 percent from 2007, when the Turnpike tunnels were closed.

Activist Mike Kelleher says Pike drivers facing toll increases are getting hit twice.

A Pike spokesman says the ticket increase is the result of a safety campaign that may be working. So far this year, there have been no deaths on the Turnpike, compared with three last year.