Key takeaways
- Connecticut set the first state speed limits on May 21, 1901: 12 mph in cities and 15 mph on country roads.
- California’s motor vehicle acts were consolidated into the first California Vehicle Code in 1935, then recodified in 1959.
- Under Evidence Code section 669, violating a safety law can create a rebuttable presumption of negligence.
Part 3 of 20 in our weekly series Car Accident Law Through History, by attorney Sean Keshishyan.
When cars first appeared, the rules for using them were mostly unwritten. Drivers, horse riders and pedestrians were expected to be careful, but no statute said how fast was too fast, who had the right-of-way, or who was even allowed to drive.
That changed quickly in the early 1900s. States began setting speed limits, registering vehicles and licensing drivers. These rules of the road were designed to prevent crashes, but they also created something lawyers still rely on every day: a written standard for measuring whether a driver was careless.
The First Speed Limits and Registration Laws
On May 21, 1901, Connecticut became the first state to set numeric speed limits for motor vehicles: 12 miles per hour in cities and 15 miles per hour on country roads. The law also required drivers to slow down at intersections and to stop if a horse appeared frightened.
That same spring, on April 25, 1901, New York became the first state to require owners to register their automobiles. Early owners made their own plates, showing their initials; the state began issuing plates only in 1910. Registration gave authorities a way to connect a vehicle to a responsible owner, which mattered as collisions became more common.
California Builds Its Rules of the Road
California followed a similar path. According to the California DMV’s own history, the state began statewide vehicle registration in 1905, handled at first by the Secretary of State. The key milestones that followed include:
- 1913: The Motor Vehicle Act of 1913 made driver’s licenses mandatory for all motor vehicle operators as of December 31, 1913.
- 1914: California began issuing permanent license plates.
- 1915: The Vehicle Act of 1915 created an official Department of Motor Vehicles. Registrations had reached about 191,000.
- 1923: Amendments to the Vehicle Act authorized state traffic officers, the beginnings of the California Highway Patrol.
- 1935: The earlier motor vehicle acts were consolidated into the first California Vehicle Code.
- 1959: The Vehicle Code was reorganized and re-enacted, with many sections renumbered into the structure used today.
The modern Vehicle Code is enormous, covering everything from lane changes and signals to vehicle equipment. One of its best-known provisions is the basic speed law in Vehicle Code section 22350, which forbids driving faster than is reasonable or prudent for conditions such as weather, visibility and traffic, and never at a speed that endangers people or property. In other words, a driver can be going under the posted limit and still be driving too fast.
From Traffic Rules to Civil Liability: Negligence Per Se
Traffic laws are enforced with tickets and, in serious cases, criminal charges. But they play an equally important role in civil cases, where an injured person seeks compensation. The link is a doctrine called negligence per se.
In ordinary negligence cases, a jury decides what a “reasonably careful person” would have done. Negligence per se lets a legislature’s rule stand in for that judgment. In California, the doctrine is written into Evidence Code section 669. A driver’s failure to use due care is presumed if four conditions are met:
- the driver violated a statute, ordinance or regulation;
- the violation was a substantial cause of death, injury or property damage;
- the harm was the kind the law was designed to prevent; and
- the injured person was among the people the law was meant to protect.
Rules of the road fit this framework naturally. Speed laws, right-of-way rules and signal requirements exist precisely to protect other drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians from collisions.
Limits of the Doctrine
Negligence per se is not automatic liability. The presumption can be rebutted if the driver shows that he or she did what a reasonably prudent person would have done while trying to obey the law, for example when an unexpected emergency made compliance impossible. The injured person must still prove that the violation actually caused the harm. And a traffic ticket, standing alone, does not decide a civil case; the question is whether a violation occurred and whether it caused the injury.
What It Means for California Drivers Today
For anyone involved in a crash, the Vehicle Code often becomes the starting point for deciding fault. Evidence that a driver ran a red light, failed to yield or drove too fast for conditions can shift the presumption of negligence onto that driver. That is why police reports, witness statements, photographs and vehicle data can be so important.
The same rules apply in both directions. If the injured person also broke a traffic law, that conduct can be weighed too. Under California’s pure comparative negligence rule, adopted in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975), each party’s share of fault is considered, and a recovery may be reduced, but not barred, by the injured person’s own share. The general deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
The early lawmakers who capped speeds at 12 miles per hour could not have imagined modern freeways. But their basic idea, that shared, written rules make roads safer and define what careful driving means, is still at the core of California car accident law.
Injured in a car accident? The history in this series shows how California law came to protect people hurt by careless drivers and defective vehicles. If you or a family member has been injured, the Law Office of Sean Keshishyan in Glendale offers free consultations. Call (818) 246-6934 or send us a message.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change and every situation is different. Please speak with a qualified attorney about your specific circumstances.
