History: Man Arrested for Speeding; Charged With Going 6 MPH

[cpzilliacus]

From the Baltimore Sun (in 1904) via the great Ghosts of Baltimore site comes this - Man Arrested for Speeding; Charged With Going 6 MPH

Mr. William A. Schaum, president of the Schaum Automobile and Motor Manufacturing Company, will be arraigned before Justice Fechtig, at the Central Police Station, today on a warrant charging him with running an automobile faster than six miles an hour in Baltimore. The warrant was sworn out by Sergeant Kelly, of the Central district.

Sergeant Kelly said he was at Calvert and Pleasant streets late Thursday night, when an automobile containing seven men went north on Calvert street at a rapid rate of speed. At Pleasant street, he said, the vehicle struck a horse attached to an express wagon and injured the animal severely.

The Sergeant rapped his club on the pavement and Patrolman Robert Busick, Lookingbill, and Charles Jones responded. With these men the Sergeant boarded a St. Paul street car and started in pursuit of the automobile. The Sergeant said he traced the automobile to Mr. Schaum's stables at 872 Park avenue, where he ascertained the name of the operator of the machine.

Come to think of it, the driver should have been charged with leaving the scene of a crash.

[bing101]

Wow that is crazy for the times. But then again the Horse and Carriage industry was at its transition point back then.

[Jardine]

I took a class in operating a steam traction engine (really) and recall the vehicle's maximum safe speed is 2 MPH.  If it gets up to 4 MPH the operator(s) are in serious danger, and at 6 MPH we were advised to jump off as the vehicle is out of control.

(the traction engine, BTW, did not have a speedometer)

[Henry]

I've been told that the Model T Ford had a top speed of 60 MPH. Sadly, it wouldn't be suitable for freeway driving today, as the speed limits are for the most part higher than that.

[empirestate]

It pretty clearly says he was going faster than 6 m.p.h. He could have been going 45 for all we're told.

[Brandon]

I've been told that the Model T Ford had a top speed of 60 MPH. Sadly, it wouldn't be suitable for freeway driving today, as the speed limits are for the most part higher than that.

Only about 40-45 mph.  However, it was more than adequate for the roads of the era (1910-1925).  Many were still dirt, and the height of the Model T, along with its track and wheelbase (100 in) were ideal for getting around on them.

That, and the price just could not be beat.  By the end of its run, the Model T could be had for $240 (approximately $3,800 in 2014 dollars).  Quite the bargain, and it even came with a form of speed control and no clutch pedal thanks to the planetary gear arrangement.

[Takumi]

So if 6 mph was speeding, does that mean 8 was automatically grounds for reckless driving in Virginia at the time?

[tidecat]

It wasn't long before that people thought your blood would boil at 35 MPH - railroads disproved that.

[english si]

In the UK, the speed limit for "all road locomotives, including automobiles" from 1865 to 1898 (when they created a new legal class of vehicles, which were allowed to go up to 14mph) was 4mph (2mph urban limit). In 1861 they had set it at 10mph (5 urban).

If you had a trailer ("mutiple wagons") you had to have a man walking in front of the car waving a red flag 60yds ahead and an extra man with the vehicle, on top of the crew of three that all motorised vehicles on the road had to have.

I believe horse-drawn wagons could go as fast as they liked (or maybe the 1861 limit of 10mph).

[agentsteel53]

struck a horse?  that actually sounds like reckless driving.  if I were going 6mph and plowed into a horse, then either my driving skills, or my car design, would be questionable.

[Scott5114]

The horse is also somewhat questionable for not getting out of the way.

[agentsteel53]

The horse is also somewhat questionable for not getting out of the way.

I had visualized "attached to an express wagon" as being unable to move quickly.  I've always thought of an express wagon as having 6 or 8 horses (see standard Wells Fargo stagecoach depiction), so even if there's an entire team attached to that wagon, their ability to move quickly without command is pretty questionable.

yep, I basically thought of the guy in the automobile running into the equivalent of a parked car.  reckless.

[bing101]

What was the speed limit for horses and carriage at the time? I bet these groups were getting city councils and states to write the traffic laws when this story came out.

[vdeane]

No idea, but President Grant once got a speeding ticket (then $20) for driving his horse-drawn carriage too fast.  Guess some things never change in DC.