First Speed Limits

The first US speed limit for motor vehicles was set in Connecticut in May 1901. It was 19 kilometers per hour (12 mph) within the city and 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph) on the highway. Earlier speed limits were targeted at horse-drawn carriages, not motor vehicles.

Representative Robert Woodruff, who proposed the speed limit for vehicles, wanted it set at 13 kilometers per hour (8 mph) within the city and 19 kilometers per hour (12 mph) on the highway. Drivers were warned to either slow down or stop driving when they saw a horse-drawn carriage. This was because the state did not want drivers scaring the horses.