A "Modern Plague"


The car quickly raises controversy. While the fleet is growing rapidly, appropriate infrastructure are not yet implemented. They are also bicycle dealers who repair and maintain automobiles. The automobile frightens animals (drivers will be dubbed the "killer of hens"), it is very noisy and emit a foul odor. Upsetting the tranquility of pedestrians in cities, many want to ban it. These do not hesitate to throw stones or manure on cars that cross their chemin. Humorous publications of the Belle Époque are also often occurrence to the theme of "motorist-crusher". Thus in 1889, the first arrested appear. The Marquis Italian Carcano "ose" move De Dion-Bouton steam in the city center of Nice. Frightened and certainly surprised, people sign a petition and send it to the mayor. Applying the law of 21 February 1893, the mayor prohibited the passage of steam cars in the city center. Nevertheless, the law will be relaxed in 1895, giving electric cars or gasoline to run at less than 10 km /h.

Beyond transportation, automotive upsets the cultural approach to modes of transport. The opposition between technical progress and religion is sometimes brutal. Clerics oppose this device that "looks more like a devil than a human".

It is born in 1902 and the foundation of traffic regulations. The Supreme Court gives mayors the ability to regulate traffic in their city. The first signs - including speed limit signs ranging from 4 to 10 km / h - make their apparition. In 1893, French law sets the speed limit to 30 km / h on highways and 12 km / h in urban areas, at speeds below those of horse-drawn vehicles. Some cities like Paris are crowded quickly, forcing the mayor of Paris to prohibit traffic in certain streets. Shortly after, a "certificate of circulation" is introduced, and the first plates immatriculation while the first regular bus lines developed by the Compagnie Générale des Omnibus, make their appearance in June 1906. The drivers of carriages gradually transformed into a taxi cab driver, which is the leading manufacturer Renault. An estimated 10,000 the number of taxis put into circulation 1914. Signs warning of danger signs and common names are available to municipalities in 1910, Michelin also led to the installation of milestones. Drivers are no longer obliged to leave the car to ask residents what they trouvent cities.

Despite this early progress regulatory and signaling, the automobile remains dangerous for some. Collin Ambrose, professor and lawyer, in 1908 decided to establish the "League against the excesses of the automobile." It addresses each manufacturer a letter in which he asked them to give up this new industrie, but this letter will not affect the course of history