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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: LizzieL on Monday 27 August 18 17:14 BST (UK)
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Does anyone know what the speed limit for motor cars was in 1926 in England?
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This might help - 20 mph - then abolished completely in 1930.
https://www.historyhit.com/1965-introduction-of-70mph-speed-limit-in-uk/
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Thank you . I thought the 20 mph speed limit wasn't changed until after 1926, but I wasn't sure and wanted a second opinion. I have seen a newspaper report of an inquest in March 1926 where a driver who was involved in an accident stated he was going at about 25 mph, yet he was exonerated of all blame. He was clearly exceeding the speed limit.
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The driver was in a 20 hp Sunbeam, which I believe was only released in 1926 and allegedly capable of 70 mph according to this website - so not a slow car
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mm2/
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As he could afford a Sunbeam, one must assume he could also afford a good lawyer, which might have played a part in the fact that no blame was attributed to him.
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He was a wealthy business man and had a lawyer representing him at the inquest. He said he had left Wolverhampton at 8.45 am and the accident happened at 12.15. The most likely route given that there would be motorways then, would be about 103 miles. That makes the average 34mph, so I expect he was going considerably faster than the claimed 25mph. It's a straight section of road outside any towns or villages. He said he was trying to get to a village about 4 miles further on from the accident by lunch time. So he had been driving non-stop for 3.25 hours and running late.
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Surely you mean NO motorway then, as the first one was not until 1958.
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Surely you mean NO motorway then, as the first one was not until 1958.
yes I did mean no motorways. Also the many of the town centres wouldn't be bypassed so that would slow him down - time which he had to catch up on the rural sections.
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I think a lot would depend on other contributing factors to the accident, a good lawyer may have used them to help negate the speeding side of things.
It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened.