The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 26

THE BOSTON GLOBE MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1999 StartsaraStops THOMAS C. PALMER JR. Explaining the insurance system's ups and downs to drivers B2 (where the governors from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island met). They'll also put together a joint marketing plan for the airports. Come up with a comprehensive rail plan for the region and, of course, a Web site, too.

Try to get so-called Pilgrim Partnership language into law in Massachusetts, which would increase rail service to Providence. Meet again. Maybe at a regional airport next time? You asked customers could receive and send forms automatically. The bill also would provide $37 million for emergency road and bridge repairs throughout the state. These are fiscal year 1999 funds.

Now it's up to the House, which could take these measures up in in. formal session, or let them die. Logan parking lots were full over the Thanksgiving holiday, but airport visitors didn't have to use the satellite lots, according to Jose Juves said. The week before, however, some cars had to go all the way to Suffolk Downs, after the satellite spaces filled up. The week before Thanksgiving was more crowded because business travelers tend to arrive alone in their cars, while families not only travel in bunches but also do more picking up and dropping off.

Massport executive director Virginia Buckingham announced that more than 60,000 people used Logan public transportation services during the holiday period, taking advantage of the first Thanksgiving discount. Those airline passengers didn't take up any parking spaces at all. Pit stops Amtrak says its business was up 7 percent over the Thanksgiving holiday, 12 percent in the Northeast US Airways Shuttle has a quieter, more efficient Airbus A320 on flights between Boston and New York Mass. Highway folks say they have at least 229,000 tons of salt, 200,000 tons of sand, and contracts with 3,500 snowplow drivers and are ready for whatever Mother Nature brings this winter State transportation officials gave the town of Webster a $1.1 million grant to add 125 new parking spaces in the has-- GLOBE STAFF PHOTO TOM LANDERS The sidewalk traffic signal at Tremont Street and Temple Place In Boston Is obstructed from the view of drivers by a light pole. Os this fair? A colleague we'll call her No.

7063707, because that's her insurance policy number got a speeding ticket at a notorious location on Memorial Drive near MIT. First ticket after almost 10 years in Boston. She was cited for 47 miles per hour -12 over the speed limit. Unless she successfully contests it, shell pay a $70 fine. But that's not the worst part.

She called her insurance company and was told her insurance will go from $832 a year to $946 a year. Not for one year, but for six years. That's a total of $684, not even including the $70 fine. For one ticket. Is this fair? Like many other car owners, we had never focused on the true costs of traffic violations in Massachusetts.

It's always seemed so complicated. "People don't know how much it costs to get a ticket," said Stephen D'Amato, a consumer advocate who knows the ins and outs of tricky subject. He used to be director of the State Rating Bureau, part of the Division of Insurance that represents policyholders on insurance rate matters. It is a complicated system, perhaps unnecessarily so. "It baffles the insurance company," No.

7063707 told us, adding, "Massachusetts is more harsh than other states." Let's look. This is the system that comes explained in an unfathomable little math calculation at the bottom of a page from your insurance company. Steps and points, that sort of thing. We asked Mary Ann Mulhall of the state's Merit Rating Board to explain it, with No. 7063707 in mind.

Everybody starts driving at a so-called Step 15. That's what they give you until you develop a record, good or bad. "We look at six years of driving," Mulhall said. From that "neutral" 15, they add points for accidents or traffic offenses. Or, you get a point taken off for each of those six years of good driving.

Six is the maximum. "The Legislature put the bottom at nine," Mulhall said. (That's 15 minus six, or nine the best you can do. By the way, the 15 is an arbitrary neutral number. About three quarters of the state's drivers are down at Step 9 or 10.) Guess what the top, or worst, step is.

Thirty-five. We can talk about it, but hardly anybody could afford it, insurance-wise. So how about poor No. 7063707? She jumps from a Step 9 to a Step 10 because she's lost one year's good-driving credit. Many people perceive that the first minor violation is a "freebie." She's still getting a significant credit, Mulhall said.

No points are added but the loss of one credit year is very costly and has the same effect as adding a point. "It's free, but really it's not free, because you lost that one credit year," said Robert Liberatore, who works for Mulhall at the Merit Rating Board. "And that adds up." It works this way: If you have six years of perfect driving in Massachusetts, you get 42 percent off the neutral (Step 15) insurance premium for mandatory coverage, and 36 percent off your collision insurance, if you carry it. Of course, your age, address, type of vehicle all affect that premium too. The way that works is, each step up or down represents a 7 percent change in mandatory coverage, and each step up or down represents 6 percent change in collision coverage (that's insurance on your own car).

According to No. 7063707's insurance company, that means a $114 increase per year. Is that fair? We put the question to Mulhall. She wouldn't address the specific case but declared the overall system equitable. A second speeding ticket means you start adding rating points (you don't want them: higher bad, lower good).

With one more speeding ticket next year, No. 7063707 would lose another year of good-driving credits and gain two rating points. She was told that would mean $342 per year added to her premium more than $2,000 over six years. D'Amato he's the guy looking out for us consumers says the actuarial tables show that those who go from Step 9 to 10, on average, are actually likely to cost the insurance companies more over the next six years, about the same amount their premiums go up as a result of that first ticket "I think there is some sense that people should be entitled to one mistake," D'Amato said. "But from a purely actuarial standpoint, that would be more unfair than the current system." Politics on track New England governors met in Boston last month to talk turkey no, transportation actually and vowed to cooperate on structuring an "intermodal" system.

That's one in which people can move from trains, to cars, to buses, to boats, even bicycles, easily. Specifically, they agreed to: Create highway signs directing travelers to regional airports, which often are less crowded and offer cheaper fares than does Logan vations," said Cope. "Avery observant person. We'd welcome him to write us, and well talk about the interstate highway system as much as he desires." To Leo: That's Highway Commissioner Matt Amorello, Massachusetts Highway Department, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02110. We've been neglecting questions our outlying suburbs, so here's one.

Naomi from Beverly says that coming off Route 128 at Exit 24, going south, there is a nice new set of lights. "There's a light for pedestrian crossing. However, there's no sign. It changes to a green arrow to take a right turn. There's no sign you have to wait for the light to turn." She's been waiting for the arrow before turning onto Endicott Street but wonders whether she has to.

"It should be posted, Wait for the green arrow or something." Cope said that that's a double right-turn lane there, and there are markings on the pavement indicating that "There's no sign that says no turn on red, so you can turn with the arrow or with the red light." After a stop of course. Just last week we mentioned that on Daniel Grabauskas' wish list was $5 million for a new phone system at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, where he runs the show. Alison Franklin from Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham's office called to say the Senate passed just such an appropriation. It not only would replace that inadequate phone system, adding some features, like a fax option so struction is complete, we will have lost a total of 39 spaces," Pesaturo said.

"There is a sign behind a Big Dig barricade on Summer Street, just outside South Station, that reads, 'Glory Hole 59'," writes Jerry. "Can you explain?" Big Dig chief of staff Jeremy Crockford knew that one off the top of his head. He'd had some e-mail inquiries about it himself. "A glory hole is an old, old term dating back couple hundred years, a mining term," he said. "A glory hole is a place where miners would go to get in or out of the hole.

You 'run to glory" to get out of a hole." They're the openings for workers doing excavation and underground construction work on some of the Big Dig contracts downtown. Some of those workers are sandhogs, members of the mining union local. Leo's father called to say Leo, 7, of Cambridge, been wondering about the Route 3 signs in the state. When he's in the car with his father, Leo has noticed that in Cambridge and north to the New Hampshire border, Route 3 is on a shield-type sign. To the south, from Boston to the Cape, it's on a square sign.

"Yes, they are different," said Mass. Highway's Doug Cope. From Memorial Drive north all the way to Quebec, it's a US route designation, because it goes state to state. South of there it is a state route, because at some point Route 3 was extended south of the city. Those are square signs." "We certainly applaud the obser any, many inquiries about the timing of of the debut of Amtrak's high-speed train service between Boston and New York.

It was supposed to start in October and then the end of the year and then the first of the year and then there was the wheel-wear problem at the testing ground in Colorado. It's about the time Amtrak was to announce an exact date that the sleek Acela hits the tracks. No word so far, so we called Amtrak, where a spokesman told us he didn't know yet. So far, it's still set for spring 2000. In the meantime, there will be all-electric service between Boston and New York, starting in mid-January.

That will mean a trip of under four hours. "About 3:58," he said. Pat writes, "Would you be willing to devote some space to the subject of commuter-rail parking? Many of us are troubled by the lack of parking space at various commuter-rail stations and the lack of the MBTA to coordinate construction projects so that several lines are not affected at the same time." She noted parking has been reduced at Route 128 Station for construction, reduced at Canton Junction as the station is being moved, and shrunk at Norfolk Station, too. "Parking is essentially nonexistent after 7:30 a.m. at Walpole and Norwood Depot and at times Ded-ham Corporate." It doesn't answer all your questions, Pat, but Joe Pesaturo got the rundown for us on the two major areas: Canton Junction and Route 128.

There were 850 parking spaces at Route 128, on the Westwood-Ded-ham line, before construction on a new station and parking garage began. One portion of the garage is open now, with 550 spaces. It opened Nov. 1. When the whole thing is done, there will be parking for 2,750 cars.

It used to be $1 a day, back when the lot was full of holes and lakes. Now it will be high and dry, but $3 a day. "At Canton Junction, once con 0 Main Street business area. You can't get there. The Centra Artery northbound ramn ta Stiimiw I)rivo will ho rnaaA weeknights, 11 p.m.-5 a.m., tonight through Friday morning for Big construction.

There's two hours of free parking at the City of Boston's 7,200 parking meters on Christmas and New Year's Eve, and on the remaining Saturdays through the end of the year. We answer as many inquiries each week as space allows. Please, no phone calls. You can reach usonE- mail at startsglobe.com. The col-umn is also mi Globe Online at Bos-.

ton.com, which can be found at httpwww.boston.com Use the keyword starts. Our mailing address is Starts Stops, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378. Sunday number 1663 SUNDAY PAYOFFS (based on $1 bet) EXACT ORDER All 4 digits $4,683 First or last 3 $656 Any 2 digits $56 Any 1 digit $6 ANY ORDER All 4 digits $390 First 3 digits $219 Last 3 digits $219 MEGABUCKS Sat 1204 2 7 23 30 37 41 Jackpot: $3.9 million There were no jackpot winners. PREVIOUS MASS.

DRAWINGS Saturday 4690 Friday 7308 Thursday 1240 Wednesday 1331 Tuesday 5578 WEEKEND NUMBERS AROUND NEW ENGLAND Sun. Rhode Island 7364 Saturday's Powerball 5 2225 36 38 Powerball 37 Jackpot: $36.7 mill There were no jackpot winners. Sun. Maine, N.H., Vermont 3-digit 699 4-digit 4672' after hitting hayride Eastham Saturday, police said. Glenn C.

Hogg, 49, faces charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, causing serious injury by motor vehicle, and operating to endanger as a result of the 5 p.m. crash. He will be arraigned in Orleans District Court this morning. Rescue personnel from Eastham, Wellfleet, Harwich, and Brewster treated the 20 injured riders. Thirteen people were transported to the Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, 11 were treated and released while two were admitted with nonlife-threaten-ing injuries, hospital officials said.

-TED BOLTON Driver faces charges A Chatham man faces numerous charges after the late model Dodge truck he was driving plowed into a horse-drawn hayride on Route 6 in OVERLOOKING HISTORIC BOSTON HARBOR Gift Certificates Major Credit Cards Accepted Purchase on-line at www.Pier4.com or Calll-80O99-PIER4 (1-800-997-4374) GLOBE SWF PHOIO DOMINIC CHAVEZ MENORAH LIGHTING Rabbi Rachmiel Liberman, the executive director of the Congregation Lubavitch Jewish Educational Center, lit the third candle of the menorah during a Hanukkah celebration at Downtown Crossing last night. 11 fur protesters arrested in Macy's sit-in Che Boston 6ok COUPON Offer expires 121399. One coupon Richdale stores. tMT 1 ft? per person. At participating I I a 4 Eleven fur protesters were arrested at Macy's in Downtown Crossing yesterday when they staged a sit-in at the store, police said.

Members of the Boston-based Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade said they have targeted Macy's because the store is the largest fur retailer on the East Coast Demonstrators gathered outside Macy's at 1 p.m. Minutes later, 11 members of the group entered the store wearing "Fur is Murder" T-shirts, according to Ethan Wolf, 20, the group's spokesman. The group sat and locked arms irhe fur salon, he said. About an hour later, police were called and the protesters were carried to waiting vans without incident, Wolf said. "We want to bring attention to the killing of animals and send a message that we're willing to give up our freedom for the cause," he said.

"We hope our demonstrations will convince Macy's to stop selling fur." The group plans simliar protests in New York and San Francisco. Barry Davidson, Macy's store manager, could not be reached for comment. THOMAS GRILLO COFFEE OR CAPPUCCINO At the comer of Washington and School Street Downtown Boston 617-367-4000 www.globestore.boston.com Small size.