Hold your horses

The Road Traffic Acts were passed as ?a consequence of the motor car's grim harvest of road injuries and fatalities, but the original Victorian motoring legislation was a product of parliament's conjecture that road locomotives and self-propelled agricultural engines would be driven at high speed ?thus endangering the safety of the public and scaring horses. Lord Esher MR said in Smith & Wife v Bailey and Another: 'The legislature has treated these engines as dangerous machines, likely to cause mischief on highways, unless precautions are taken.'

In 1834, Walter Hancock's steam-powered coach was transporting passengers in London at speeds of 15-20mph but the first speeding laws were not introduced until the 1860s. The Locomotive Act of 1861 restricted highway speed to 10mph or 5mph in towns. The Act also required each vehicle to have a crew of two. The Locomotive Act 1865 (the so-called Red Flag Act) required an additional man to 'precede such locomotive on foot by not less than 60 yards and shall carry a red flag constantly displayed and shall warn drivers and riders of horses ?of such locomotives'. A speed limit of ?4mph or 2mph in towns was thereby imposed, which was unchanged by the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act 1878.

There were in the 1890s many members of the Commons who recognised that the existing law was suffocating motoring. On 14 August 1896, the Locomotive on Highways Act 1896 passed the House of Lords. This was the great Emancipation Act that abolished the need for the flag carrier and increased the motoring speed limit to 14mph (although most local authority boards had the authority to reduce it to 12mph). This speed restriction remained in force until 1903, when Lord Montagu campaigned for an increase in the limit ?and eventually parliament conceded on ?a maximum road speed of 20mph ?(section 9 of Motor Car Act 1903).

The fine for speeding under section 9 of Motor Act 1903 was £10 and 'in respect of the second offence to a fine not exceeding £20, and in respect of any subsequent offence a fine not exceeding £50, but a person shall not be convicted under this provision for exceeding the speed limit of 20 miles on the opinion of one witness as to the rate of speed'. The report of two or more eye witnesses was hardly a satisfactory way of prosecuting speeding motorists, which led to a slightly more scientific method '“ the dreaded police trap.

The Edwardian speed trap

On 4 March 1906, Henry Harris and Percival Suter, two constables of the Metropolitan Police, were on special duty on London Road, Croydon, observing and timing the speed of vehicles with a view of prosecuting motorists in contravention of the Motor Car Acts 1896 and 1903. The police officers, armed with a stopwatch, had measured off on London Road three separate distances of one furlong each.

A public spirited bystander, William Little, warned speeding motorists approaching the measured distances that the police were on the watch. He made signals with a sheet of newspaper and, on one occasion, shouted out 'police trap'. Little did this for about 40 minutes before he was arrested.

A summons was issued against Mr Little but the local justices cleared him of all charges of wilfully obstructing police constables in the execution of their duty. On appeal, it was found that there was no evidence and no finding that the motorists were speeding nor was it found that Little was 'in concert with any of the drivers, and was not in any way connected with the persons interested in the driving of motor cars'. His barrister said: 'What he did amounted to no more than a mere intimation or advice to be careful, just as a clergyman in his sermon or a schoolmaster in his school might do.' The King's Bench Division dismissed the appeal (Bastable v Little 1906).

Most modern-day legal obligations associated with the keeping of a motor car originate from the Motor Car Act 1903. Section 2 introduced the registration mark and made it an offence to use a car on a public highway without displaying the mark. The driving licence was introduced by section 3 and section 4 governed the suspension of licence and disqualification. A person driving a motor car was obliged under section 6 to stop in case of an accident involving 'any person, whether on foot, on horseback or in a vehicle, or to any horse or vehicle in charge of any person'. There was a £10 fine for failing to do so.

As mentioned above, local authorities had powers (and still do) to set speed limits and section 10 introduced speed limit signs, to be erected by local authorities, 'in conspicuous places on or near the highway'. And finally, the Motor Car Act introduced the tax disc by section 13, which cost considerably less than the £130 (or more) duty we pay today!

Copyright & permissions