Road transport: a timeline

Thousands
of years ago the people of Egypt and Greece rode in chariots.


Coaches drawn by horses were used for hundreds of years. These coaches were used in the1600s

In the 1700s coaches used for
long-distance travel were called 'stage coaches' because the journey
was undertaken in stages. At each stage, passengers could get
on or off, and teams of horses were changed so
that speed could be maintained. Stagecoaches
carried the mail as well as passengers, and travelled at an average
speed of about 11 kilometres an hour.
Twenty five kilometres per day was considered a good day's travel.
One of the first stagecoach companies
in Australia was Cobb and Co.

These children had their own coach, pulled by a donkey
1839 Macmillan's Bicycle
One of the early model bicycles with pedals.These pedals worked
in an up and down motion. Macmillan was charged with 'furious
driving' for going too fast!
1870 The penny-farthing bicycle.

The correct
name for the penny -farthing was the ordinary bicycle. 'Penny
-farthing' is a nickname for the bicycle after the largest coin
in use, the penny, and the smallest coin, the farthing. At first,
bicycles were thought of just as entertainment but as roads improved
in cities and towns the bicycle became a popular means of transport.
1885 The first petrol driven car was designed
and built by a German engineer, Karl Benz. It
had three wheels and seats for two people. It travelled at thirteen
kilometres per hour. The car was built on a frame made of steel
tubes and had a steering lever.

A later Benz car
1885
An early petrol-driven motor bike invented by Daimler.
1908 The Model T
It was invented by Henry Ford, called the Tin Lizzie, and was
produced on an assembly line which revolutionised manufacturing
and made cars affordable for ordinary people.

An early model double-decker bus from the 1900s. Passengers who sat inside paid more than those who sat outside on the top deck.
Motor cars in
Australia
The first cars arrived in the 1890s. The first were steam driven.
By 1914 there were about 37000 cars and trucks in Australia. Most
had been imported from the USA . Holden Brothers began making
car bodies for an American company in 1917. The first mass produced
car in Australia was the Holden. First one ran off the assembly
line on 29 November 1948 at the factory at Fisherman's Bend, Melbourne.
Read about the invention of the
'ute' (utility vehicle) in Australia in 1934
http://www.fastlane.com.au/Features/First_ute.htm
As the number of cars on the roads increased,
traffic accidents became common. Road laws had to be introduced
to keep drivers, their passengers and pedestrians safe. To help
control
traffic,
the first traffic lights in Australia
were installed in Melbourne in 1928.

Motor scooters became popular in the 1960s
hear the sounds of a traffic jam

Freeways were built in the 1960s to improve the flow of traffic in and around cities.

In the 1990s people began looking for alternatives to petroleum driven engines. Solar electric cars may become common in the 21st century
Read about the history of carsherehttp://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcar.htm
If you use any of this information in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Road transport: a timeline [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2011)
Go to Airships and balloons Go to Air transport
Go to Rail transport Go to Ships: a timeline
Back to Technology and Inventions
December 2011 copyright © kidcyber
Please contact kidcyber if you find broken links etc. that need repair.