Until the invention of the wheel humans were limited in the duration and distance of traveling. With broader travel and more choices of travel methods life and safety also became more complicated.
396 BC
Camillus gave women unrestricted rights to drive and own chariots in Rome.
50 BC
Julius Caesar prohibited downtown parking to relieve congestion and also established one-way streets.
1660
King Charles II of England issued this decree “Whereas the excessive numbers of hackney coaches in the city of London are found to be a nuisance, the streets and highways being thereby made impassible and dangerous; we command that no person or persons permit or suffer said coaches to stand or remain in any of the streets.”
1757
Boston passed an ordinance against “fast driving” — no faster than a foot pace.
1760
The first one-way streets in the United States were established in New York City.
1793
The first turnpike was begun between Philadelphia and Lancaster, PA. It was 62 miles long.
1796
The first macadam road in the US was completed at a cost of $7,500 per mile.
1805
The first self-propelled, steam-powered vehicle was developed in the United States. Built by Oliver Evans, the “Orukter Amphibolos” was used to dredge the harbor in Philadelphia. (French army officer Nicholas Joseph Cugnot built a similar vehicle in 1769.)
1817
Baltimore was the first American city to install streetlights.
1835
The Highway Act of 1835 passed into law the British custom of keeping to the left side of the road. Later, the ruling applied to motor vehicles in the Motor Car Act of 1904.
1886
Daimler built the first gasoline-powered car.
1889
The first recorded traffic death in the United States occurred in New York City when Wall Street real estate dealer Henry H. Bliss stepped off a trolley car at 74th Street and Central Park West. He had turned around to help a lady down the steps when he was struck and run over by an electric automobile passing the trolley.
1895
The Duryea Brothers beat the Olds Brothers in the first Chicago Road Race.
1896
- England passed a law prohibiting any power-propelled vehicle to travel the highway faster than 4 mph and required the vehicle to be proceeded by a man with a red flag.
- The first recorded sales of an automobile in the United States occurred. Built by Charles and Frank Duryea, the gasoline-powered vehicle was purchased by a Massachusetts man. The Duryea brothers continued making automobiles into the early 1900s.
1899
President William McKinley was the first US president to ride in an automobile. It was a Stanley Steamer.
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