On this day in 1899 New York City taxicab driver Jacob German left his mark in history by becoming the first person in the United States to be cited for speeding while driving an automobile. German was a driver for the Electric Vehicle Company, which leased its cars to be used as taxis in the bustling city. The car that German was driving was known as an electrobat, which was a fully electric vehicle invented in 1894. There were about 60 of them operating as taxis in 1899. At the time New York had speed limits for horses and cars, it being 8 miles per hour when traveling straight and 4 miles per hour when going around a corner. German was traveling an astonishing 12 miles per hour that the bicycle officer who pulled him over actually arrested him and brought him to the precinct and imprisoned him! It is unclear if German was given a written citation or not. The first known paper citation in the US was given to Harry Myers in Dayton, Ohio in 1904. He was also traveling a breakneck 12 miles per hour. The first known speeding ticket issued to an automobile driver in the world actually came on January 28, 1896 and was issued to Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent. Arnold was caught going 8 miles per hour in a 2 mile per hour zone and earned a fine of 1 shilling!
In the video below shot by Thomas Edison in 1901 an electrobat can be seen entering the screen at about the 30 second mark. He is obviously not traveling with the lightning speed of Mr. German.
The best way to support This Day in Automotive History is to become a monthly subscriber on Facebook.
Subscriber benefits include:
- Most importantly, you’re supporting great content about Automotive History
- Early access to content on Facebook
- Discounts on our store
- Special live videos
If you learned something today, please buy me a beer!
Recent Posts
April 25, 1959 – Mario Andretti makes US racing debut
April 25, 2024
April 24, 1957 – Origins of the Nissan Skyline
April 24, 2024
April 22, 1996 – Mercedes SLK class debuts at Turin
April 22, 2024
The Cute Ute – 1964 Ford Ranchero for Sale
April 22, 2024
Is Restoring a Classic Car Worth Your Time and Investment?
April 22, 2024
This Day in Automotive History - the book!
This Day In Automotive History
By Brian Corey
This book tells fascinating tales, bringing individual days to life with short stories, photographs and illustrations.
This Day in Automotive History
This Day in Automotive History is a transportation history, car history and general automotive history website dedicated to providing informative and entertaining content.
We encourage you to share our page and connect with us on Facebook or sign up for our automotive history newsletter. If you’d like your car featured, reach out to us!
We encourage you to share our page and connect with us on Facebook or sign up for our automotive history newsletter. If you’d like your car featured, reach out to us!
Related Posts
April 25, 1959 – Mario Andretti makes US racing debut
April 25, 2024
April 24, 1957 – Origins of the Nissan Skyline
April 24, 2024
April 22, 1996 – Mercedes SLK class debuts at Turin
April 22, 2024
The Cute Ute – 1964 Ford Ranchero for Sale
April 22, 2024
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER!
Connect with us on Facebook or sign up for our automotive history newsletter to keep in touch.
46 Responses
I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Well written!
Hello, I enjoy reading all of your article post. I wanted towrite a little comment to support you.
fantastic submit, very informative. I ponder why the opposite experts of this sector don’t realize this.
You should proceed your writing. I am confident,
you have a huge readers’ base already!
Asking questions are genuinely good thing if you are not understanding something fully, except this piece of writing providespleasant understanding yet.
I was curious if you ever considered changing the structure of
your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
Hi there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new
iphone 3gs! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to
all your posts! Carry on the outstanding work!
May I simply say what a comfort to discover an individual who genuinely understands
what they’re talking about online. You certainly know how to bring a problem to light
and make it important. More and more people must check this out and understand this side of the story.
I was surprised that you’re not more popular since
you certainly have the gift.
Tremendous issues here. I’m very satisfied to see your article.Thanks so much and I’m having a look ahead to contact you.Will you please drop me a mail?
Hi mates, fastidious post and pleasant urging commented at this place,
I am in fact enjoying by these.
Hi it’s me, I am also visiting this web page daily, this web page is truly fastidious and the visitors are truly sharing fastidious thoughts.
I always spent my half an hour to read this web site’s articlesor reviews all the time along with a mug of coffee.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this article and the rest of the site is also
very good.
It’s going to be ending of mine day, except before end I am
reading this impressive post to improve my know-how.
Today, I went to the beachfront with my kids. I found a
sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter
and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed.
There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back!
LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!
Wow, fantastic blog format! How long have you
ever been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The entire glance of
your web site is magnificent, as neatly as the content!
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism
or copyright infringement? My site has a lot of exclusive
content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it
appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do
you know any methods to help stop content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.
Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your site, how could i subscribe fora blog web site? The account helped me a acceptable deal.I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept
Hi! Someone in my Facebook group shared this site with us so I came to take
a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers!
Fantastic blog and brilliant design.
Hey there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re using?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say
this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you
recommend a good internet hosting provider at a honest
price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!
I really love your blog.. Very nice colors & theme.Did you build this web site yourself? Pleasereply back as I’m hoping to create my own personal website and would loveto learn where you got this from or just what the theme is named.Thanks!
Hi there to all, how is all, I think every one is getting
more from this website, and your views are pleasant in favor
of new visitors.
I relish, result in I found exactly what I
was looking for. You have ended my 4 day lengthy
hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day.
Bye
I have read so many articles about the blogger lovers except this piece of writing is genuinelya nice post, keep it up.
Hello mates, its impressive article concerning teachingand fully defined, keep it up all the time.
My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses.
But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on a number of websites for
about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform.
I have heard good things about blogengine.net. Is there a
way I can import all my wordpress content into it?
Any help would be really appreciated!
I’ve been surfing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made good content
as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.
Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it,you’re a great author. I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and definitely will come back later in life.I want to encourage yourself to continue your great posts, have anice weekend!
Aw, this was a very good post. Finding the time
and actual effort to produce a great article…
but what can I say… I hesitate a lot and don’t seem to get
nearly anything done.
Hi, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post.
It was helpful. Keep on posting!
I am really impressed together with your writing talents and also with the layout for your weblog.Is that this a paid theme or did you modify it your self?Either way stay up the excellent high quality writing, it is rare to look a nice blog like this one today..
My brother suggested I may like this website. He used to be totally right.
This publish actually made my day. You can not consider simply how a lot time I had spent for this info!
Thanks!
I read this piece of writing completely concerning theresemblance of latest and earlier technologies, it’s amazing article.
Hi there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from
an established blog. Is it difficult to set up your own blog?
I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick.
I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not sure
where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Appreciate it
Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand yourstuff previous to and you’re just extremely fantastic. I really like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are saying and theway in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take careof to keep it wise. I can’t wait to read far more from you.This is really a wonderful site.
This is my first time visit at here and i am really pleassant to read everthing at one place.
You actually make it appear so easy together with your presentation however I tofind this matter to be actually one thing that I feel I might neverunderstand. It sort of feels too complex and extremely wide for me.I am having a look ahead on your next put up, I will try to get the cling of it!
continuously i used to read smaller articles which
as well clear their motive, and that is also happening with
this post which I am reading at this time.
Hi there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the sameniche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You havedone a marvellous job!
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme
in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable information to
work on. You have done an impressive job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
I don’t even know how I stopped up here, however I believed this submit was great.I don’t understand who you might be however definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already.Cheers!
Hey There. I found your weblog the usage of msn.
That is an extremely smartly written article. I will be sure
to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your useful info.
Thank you for the post. I’ll certainly return.
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it,you could be a great author. I will always bookmark your blog and may come back sometime soon. I want to encourage that you continue your great posts, have a niceday!
Hi there to all, how is the whole thing, I think every
one is getting more from this website, and your views are pleasant
for new people.
Heya i’m for the first time here. I found thisboard and I find It truly useful & it helped me out a lot.I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.
I am sure this post has touched all the internet users, its really really nice article on building
up new website.
If you wish for to obtain a good deal from this post then you have to apply suchmethods to your won web site.