May 20, 1899: first American speeding citation

On this day in 1899, taxi driver Jacob German received the first citation for speeding in the United States. He was clocked at twelve miles per hour in New York City (speed limit: eight), and spent the night in jail.

Maybe the best part of this whole story was that German was arrested by a cop on a bicycle. Wrote The New York Times the following day:

Bicycle Roundsman Schuessler saw German making fully twelve miles an hour on Lexington Avenue early last evening, and, pursuing the man, he saw him round the corner of Twenty-third Street, an always crowded place, at the same breakneck speed. Then he arrested him. German was surprised. The company was notified, and its members were astonished.

That everyone was shocked at the arrest comes as no surprise to this modern-day Brooklyn resident, but maybe I’m jaded. In the first four months of 2015, NYPD gave out 42,191 summonses for speeding, on pace to break last year’s total of 117,767. For many drivers, speeding tickets are just the cost of doing business.

In 2014, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, New York City lowered its speed limit to 25 m.p.h., from 30. (Well, technically the state Legislature did, because Albany took control of many aspects of NYC during the 1970’s fiscal crisis.) Vision Zero aims to eliminate driving-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2024.

Image source: New York Public Library