ABSTRACT
The application of mechanical power to road vehicles dates back further than is sometimes supposed, for it was in 1769 that the first successful steam-driven carriage was built by a Frenchman, Nicholas Joseph Cugnot. Though Cugnot carried his experiments no further, they were sufficient to demonstrate the practicability of mechanical traction on roads. During the period 1821–40 numerous patents were filed and many steam carriages were built and put into operation on the ordinary roads. There is indeed no better approach to the study of present-day problems of the road than by way of a historical survey, but the limits of space and proportion forbid us to linger in this interesting field and the briefest summary must suffice. The development of mechanical road transport in Britain has been circumscribed, hindered, and retarded by laws framed under earlier and consequently different conditions, and therefore unsuited to changes in the method of road transportation.
