Horsedrawn Vehicles...stupid question?

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Tina-Kate
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Horsedrawn Vehicles...stupid question?

Post by Tina-Kate »

I was thinking the other day about steep hills (as in Fall River, or my own town) during the days of horsedrawn vehicles.

Was there something in the design of these vehicles (esp heavy ones) that kept the vehicle from bashing into the horse(s) when going down steep hills? Were the horses powerful enough to keep ahead of the vehicle on the hill?

And, if one was coming up to an intersection where you would cross a road that ran down steep hill, was it common knowledge to stop and look to make sure nothing was speeding down?

Brakes???
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Tina-Kate
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Post by Tina-Kate »

Not having much luck finding info, but this from the following link: (bolding my own)

http://www.driveandstayalive.com/info%2 ... istory.htm

1800's Although road safety as we know it started with the motoring age, road accidents had long been a problem in the nineteenth century, especially in the fast growing urban areas of Britain. Thus in 1875 there were 1,589 fatalities, mostly involving horse conveyance of some kind, and this was actually more than in 1910 (see RoSPA's Annual Road Accident Statistics).

Very little research has been done on these accidents and on public policy towards them but the legislation of the time does contain measures on the proper use of the highway. Thus the Highway Act of 1835 prohibited riding on a footpath, and has regulations on the control and driving of carts and carriages, including a dangerous driving and riding offence.

Drinking while in charge of a carriage, horse or cattle was an offence under the Licensing Act of 1872, and the Locomotive (Red Flag) Act of 1865 with its speed limit of 4 mph in open country and 2 mph in towns is well known. There must also have been a considerable body of knowledge to do with driving horse-drawn vehicles and presumably safety was included in this.
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Yooper
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Post by Yooper »

Didn't the wagons drawn by horses have a tongue running between two horses or a double tongue for a single horse? This would be used to control the front wagon wheels so the wagon would turn. The horses were pulling the wagon tongue rather than the wagon directly, they were hitched to the tongue. The heavier wagons might have had a friction brake of some sort to take up some of the load while going downhill. I imagine the harness was designed to push against the horse to allow slowing while descending a hill. The rest is probably simple physics, enough weight to pull the wagon is enough weight to stop the wagon.
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Post by FairhavenGuy »

The vehicles did have brakes.

A friend of mine built a full-size Conestoga wagon that we had on display at the Town Hall last December during our Old-Time Holiday weekend. Those wagons were developed in the early 1700s and had brakes.

They didn't bash into the horses because the horses' harnesses were attached to rigid wooden shafts that attached to the wagon/buggy/sleigh.

The rules of the road that we observe today (except in Massachusetts) were adapted from the centuries-old traditions of the horse-drawn vehicle days.

The older European tradition of driving on the LEFT side of the road was so that the driver's sword hand (right) would be on the side closest to an oncoming rider who may not be friendly.
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Post by Tina-Kate »

Thanks for your input guys. I thought there must have been some kind of brakes in addition to horse control.

I figured there must have been rules...horses + vehicles having been used for centuries. I don't recall seeing pictures of Victorian road signs. But it also seems to me in pictures you see driving & parking being done on both sides of the road. I think you really would have had to have your wits about you...perhaps more so than today.
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Post by Debbie »

FairhavenGuy @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:34 am wrote:The vehicles did have brakes.

A friend of mine built a full-size Conestoga wagon that we had on display at the Town Hall last December during our Old-Time Holiday weekend. Those wagons were developed in the early 1700s and had brakes.

They didn't bash into the horses because the horses' harnesses were attached to rigid wooden shafts that attached to the wagon/buggy/sleigh.

The rules of the road that we observe today (except in Massachusetts) were adapted from the centuries-old traditions of the horse-drawn vehicle days.

The older European tradition of driving on the LEFT side of the road was so that the driver's sword hand (right) would be on the side closest to an oncoming rider who may not be friendly.

I know this is an older post, but hoping to still maybe get an answer.
Why is Massachusetts an exception to the rules of the road?
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Post by SteveS. »

Fairhavenguy was just kidding(semi kidding) :roll: Drivers from Mass. are called Massholes!
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Re: Horsedrawn Vehicles...stupid question?

Post by Yooper »

Must be a bit like Illinois, the drivers there are referred to as Illinidiots.
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