On this day in 1901 Connecticut became the first state in the United States to pass a speed limit law strictly for motor vehicles. The law stated that on city streets automobiles could travel no faster than 12 miles per hour and on country roads the speed limit was set at 15 miles per hour.
Speed limits in the United States had been passed into law as early as 1652 for animal drawn wagons. The colony of New Amsterdam, which is now New York, had a regiment that stated, “[N]o wagons, carts or sleighs shall be run, rode or driven at a gallop.” Drivers who disobeyed this law could be fined “two pounds Flemish,” about $150 in today’s currency.
