The first traffic fine in history was issued for traveling at 13 km/h. And it was a huge marketing maneuver

2023-09-23 15:01:54

Speed ​​fines in Spain vary from 100 to 600 euros. The table in which the financial amount is recorded also serves to check whether the driver will also be punished with the subtraction of points from the driving license. In the best of cases, the sanction It does not entail the subtraction of points, while at worst a maximum of six can be deducted.

All this information can be consulted in the DGT website or in the Traffic Law, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety. And it is useful because, according to data from Associated European Motoriststwo out of every three fines imposed in Spain are motivated by excessive speed.

But although fines for speeding seem like something modern, in which it is necessary to invest the most sophisticated means to record the violation and judicially prove the violation of the rules, their history begins before the first car will be registered in Spain.

The first fine in history for speeding

The fines for committing some type of driving violation They have a lot of history. Some suggest that the first punishment related to a traffic violation was recorded in Egypt more than 2,800 years ago, after a drunk driver ran over a girl and collided with a statue.

However, the basis of this information is, to say the least, dubious. But what there is a general consensus on is the registration of the first penalty for speeding. In fact, those responsible for Record Guinness They record it as the first violation of this type. And they put a date on it: January 28, 1896.

The fine also has a name, surname and place of origin. Specifically, the offender was Walter Arnold who in the United Kingdom, and fully aware of what was at stake, drove one of the first automobiles built by Karl Benz to the devilish speed of 13 km/h.

Arnold sped through the streets of Paddock Wood, in the county of Kent, under the gaze of a police officer who did not hesitate to chase the unconscious driver of that vehicle on a bicycle. “horseless cart”. Arnold had broken four rules in a single moment:

Driving a horseless cart on a public street Driving a horseless cart without the intervention of three people Failure to display the name and address of the vehicle Quadrupling the maximum permitted speed

Yes, according to the ticket, Arnold was traveling at a speed of 8 mph (about 13 km/h) when the maximum limit allowed was 2 mph. Nothing is said about the means of calculating this speed. What we do know is that the result was immediate. Brought to justice, Arnold was convicted of each and every one of the accusations against him.

What Arnold had in mind was that the £4.7 payment was just an investment. With his outrage he demonstrated that the speed limits were completely outdated for those combustion vehicles and, therefore, shortly thereafter the speed limit was increased to a reasonable 14 mph (just over 22 km/h).

But this didn’t stop here. Arnold was also known for his handling of vehicles. He obtained the license to sell slightly modified Karl Benz vehicles in the United Kingdom with local production under the name Arnold Motor Carriage. A car with which he managed to win in the first Emancipation Race. It joined London with Brighton (separated by 87 kilometers) and served to multiply car sales.

The first fine was, in short, a marketing trick.

In Xataka | The Mercedes T80, the car mounted on the engine of a fighter with which Hitler wanted to reach 750 km/h

Photo | Clare Black y Knowledge of London