Red flag laws were laws in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

enacted in the late 19th century, requiring drivers of early

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

s to take certain safety precautions, including waving a red flag in front of the vehicle as a warning.

Red flag law in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the

Locomotive Acts The Locomotive Acts (or Red Flag Acts) were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom regulating the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century. The first three, the Lo ...

was a policy requiring self-propelled vehicles to be led by a pedestrian waving a red flag or carrying a lantern to warn bystanders of the vehicle's approach. In particular ''The Locomotive Act 1865'', also known as ''Red Flag Act'', stated: The Red Flag Law was repealed in 1896, by which time the

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

was well into its infancy.Olyslager, 7 & 23

Red flag law in the United States

In the United States, the state of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

passed a similar Red Flag Law in 1894, only to repeal it two years later. This law stated that " e owner or person in charge of a carriage, vehicle or engine propelled by steam, except road rollers" must have a "person of mature age ..at least one-eight of a mile in advance of" the vehicle, to warn those with livestock of its impending arrival. If at night, it also required the aforementioned person to carry a red light. The law did not apply to

rail vehicle The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can be ...

References

Bibliography

* Bailey, T., and Kennedy, D. ''

The American Pageant ''The American Pageant'', initially published by Thomas A. Bailey in 1956, is an American high school history textbook often used for AP United States History, AICE American History as well as IB History of the Americas courses. Since Bailey's d ...

.'' Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994. * Olyslager, P. and Sir J. Brabham. ''Illustrated Motor Cars of the World.'' New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1967. * ''The Underground California Highway Patrol Handbook''. {{Refend Traffic law Law enforcement techniques