An Annoyed, Wealthy Man With Connections Invented Speeding Tickets

If you’re totally up on your license plate history, then you know that New York was the first state to require license plates. However, according to the Thought website, anyone with a car had to make their own plates for their vehicles. Initials were all that they needed.

However, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was the first to distribute state-wide plates which were mandatory for anyone with a car. You had to go through the state if you wanted to drive, unlike New York.

The Frederick Tudor family was the first to have a government-issued plate with a "1" and it's still being used by the Tudor family today. Frederick also happened to work for the highway division. This is why he had the first government-issued plate as well.

Now that you have some background, here's how the speeding ticket was invented.

According to The Vintage News, Frederick was the nephew of Henry Lee Higginson, the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who persuaded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to start an automobile department with state-issued plates.

Why?

You see, Henry was annoyed with cars speeding past his summer estate north of Boston. Since the state issued all license plates, he realized he could identify and report anyone that was speeding by his mansion.

According to the Hemmings website, any car that exceeded the 15 mph speed limit was fined. So yes, you can thank Massachusetts and a guy named Henry for our speeding tickets that eventually became a national thing.