The first person to be killed in a road accident was Bridget Driscoll who died on the 17th August 1896 at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. She was hit by a car travelling at 4mph.

In 1918 the first manually operated three-colour light signals were installed in New York, and in 1925 manually operated coloured light signals were used by the police in Piccadilly, London.

The first traffic signal was installed in Westminster in 1868 and was of the semaphore-arm type with red and green gas lamps for night use. Unfortunately, an explosion occurred and no further experiments of this nature were tried for half a century.

The 1903 Motor Car Act introduced driving licences, compulsory registration and number plates and increased the speed limit from 12mph to 20mph.