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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New Hampshire Speed Limits

From a 1792 New Hampshire collection of statutes:


How, exactly, are you supposed to know that you are going "five miles an hour" on a horse?  I've never seen a speedometer on a horse.  The statute was passed in 1792, by the way.

2 comments:

  1. Write me up for twelve-point-five
    Post my face, wanted dead or alive
    Take my license, all that jive
    I can't drive five

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvV3nn_de2k

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  2. I wonder if "five miles an hour" was an approximation for the difference between walk and one of trot/canter/gallop.

    I can't remember if I've even listed them in the right order, but these are distinct gaits for the horse to use.

    It shouldn't require much experience with horses to distinguish these gaits. And I doubt that legislators were unaware of average travel speeds at these gaits.

    Still, the thought of a ticket for speeding on a horse is pretty funny...

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