On This Day… The Boy Racers Of Their Day
Written by: George Chittenden : 17 May 2019
It was on this day, 20th May back in 1899 when a taxi driver was arrested for racing at a break-neck speed down Lexington Street in Manhattan. Jacob German was driving an electric taxicab for the Electric Vehicle Company when a police officer on a bicycle spotted him speeding. Jacob was well over the limit, speeding at a blistering 12 miles per hour on a straight road, when the speed limit was only 8 miles per hour!
Following his arrest he was taken to East 22nd Street Station House. Jacob German was the first person in America to be caught speeding, but not the first in the world. That title goes to Walter Arnold of Kent, England. Walter was going way over the limit, four times over it in fact. The life-threatening incident happened in Great Britain on January 28th, 1896, around three years before Jacob German was arrested for speeding. Walter Arnold was going a breakneck 8 mph in 2 mph zone. How the world has changed hey?
Are you already curious to discover what happened tomorrow? Have a great day.
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