Connecticut Set America's First State Speed Limit
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In 1901, the patchwork of limits that now governs American roads began to take shape.
On May 21, 1901, Connecticut became the first state to regulate automobile speeds with a law that capped vehicles to a then-suitable 12 mph within city limits and 15 mph on rural roads. This would become the opening move to what became a century-long negotiation between drivers and the law over speed limits - and it started low enough that a determined cyclist could have kept pace. The new regulations also stipulated that drivers must slow down at intersections and crossings; and, if a horse appeared frightened by the approaching vehicle, the driver was obliged to come to a full stop and wait.
Connecticut enforced speeds with fines that ran up to $200 (the equivalent of $7,951 today) for each offense - nearly a fifth of the cost for the average car at the time. Whilst nearly $8,000 sounds like a lot today, it is as nothing to the most expensive speeding fines levied in Finland and Switzerland in recent years.
Though Connecticut's law was the first to set a specific numeric limit, the idea of penalizing motorists for moving too fast predates it. In 1899, New York City taxi driver Jacob German became the first person ever arrested for speeding in the United States. In what sounds like a scene from a comedy sketch, a police officer on a bicycle pursued him through Manhattan and pulled him over. German was clocked at 12 mph - a speed the officer considered reckless. Ironically, today, the average speed of traffic in New York City during rush hour is about 11.5 to 12 miles per hour.
Connecticut's 1901 enactment would set the template for enforcement elsewhere in the U.S. Within a few years, states such as New York followed with their own speed regulations, and the patchwork of limits that now governs American roads began to take shape.Â
More recently, the cost of rising fuel prices caused many states to start adopting speed limit laws to save money and resources in the early 1970s. President Richard Nixon agreed to a national speed limit of 55 mph for all states in 1974. However, the availability of fuel and the cost of fuel became less of an issue in the 1980s, and the national maximum speed limit on interstates was increased to 65 mph.