The first speeding ticket ever!

I present you: the first speeding ticket ever in history! Alexander Gutermann was the 'lucky guy' receiving it:

So when did this happen?

This first speeding was given the 16th of May, 1895. In Germany, a country we still know for its good drivers!

As you can see on the document, the ticket starts with "Sehr geehrter" (=Dear Sir), a very polite ticket for not such an honorable event.

But what happened?

We even know what exactly happened. The speeding ticket explains everything.

It seems that Alexander Gutermann was driving his 'Benz-Motor-Pferd' , which is roughly translated his 'Benz-Motor-Horse'. But how did the police know that he was driving too fast? Well, they had a simple trick.

Alexander Gutermann was driving his Benz on the streets of the small town Denzlingen. He was driving fast, people had never seen something like this. And eyewitnesses saw the curtains of houses flutter while he was passing by. The evidence was clear and the first speeding ticket ever was on his way! But you also need to know that the maximum speed of those automobiles was...20km/h (13m/h)! So the fluttering was probably not thát bad ;)

How much was the speeding ticket?

The ticket was 3 German Marks, what was around a days pay for a common worker. (it's around 50$). Luckily, Alexander Gutermann was a wealthy man. Making his money in the sewing industry. He is also one of the first to be driving an automobile.

Pay the Benz-Motor-Pferd a visit

The cool thing is, you can still visit the car that was speeding, back in the 19th century. You'll have to go to Germany of course, to the PS. Speicher Museum in Einbeck.

Hope you enjoyed this history fact. I know I did (I love this kind of information).
Do you want me to write about some specific historical topic? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading
Rob

Source: https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/beitrag/strafzettel-historisches-knoellchen-von-1895