The red flag era
The Locomotive Act of 1865 — popularly known as the Red Flag Act — introduced what may be the most absurd speed limit in transport history. Self-propelled vehicles on public roads were restricted to 4 mph in the country and 2 mph in towns, and every vehicle was required to be preceded by a person on foot carrying a red flag to warn horse riders and pedestrians of the approaching machine.
The act was driven by the railway and horse-carriage lobby, who feared competition from steam-powered road vehicles. Britain had been a pioneer of steam road transport in the early 19th century — Scottish engineers were at the forefront, with inventors like William Murdoch and James Nasmyth experimenting with steam carriages. But the turnpike trusts and railway companies saw motor vehicles as a threat to their business and lobbied Parliament to regulate them into irrelevance.
The consequences were far-reaching. The Red Flag Act effectively killed the development of motor vehicles in Britain for 30 years. Innovation moved to France and Germany, where Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler developed the modern motor car without the handicap of walking-pace speed limits. When the act was finally repealed in 1896, Britain had lost its early lead in automotive engineering and had to play catch-up with continental manufacturers.
Scottish engineers, who had been at the cutting edge of steam technology, were particularly frustrated. Scotland's engineering tradition — built on the legacy of James Watt, Thomas Telford, and Robert Stevenson — was world-leading. The Red Flag Act diverted that ingenuity into other channels: shipbuilding, bridge-building, and railway engineering, where Scotland continued to excel. The Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896, celebrating the repeal of the act, is commemorated by the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run — a reminder of the era when the law required a man with a flag to walk in front of progress.