From Horses to Cars - Seattle Speeding Tickets as Early as 1879
Some people have asked me how speeding tickets came to be. On a lighter note, speeding tickets in Seattle have been issued since 1879, ten years before Washington enjoyed statehood. Back then, it wasn't the automobile in which people were riding; rather, "drivers" were speeding on horseback.
Walt Crowley, a Seattle historian, writes about speeding, horses, and electric cars:
"Seattle's first speeding ticket was issued to two horsemen in July 1879, 21 years before Washington state welcomed its first automobile on July 23, 1900, when Ralph Hopkins, the owner of the Woods Electric -- yes, electric cars are not a new idea -- drove his vehicle west from Chicago to San Francisco and then north to Seattle (with lifts from trains helping out here and there). By 1904, there were enough cars in Washington to warrant creation of the state's first Auto Club and establishment of the original State Highway Board the following year." (Source: HistoryLink).