TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND ACCIDENT

INVESTIGATION WITH PRACTICAL DRIVING

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LAND
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation
• Is the movement or conveying of persons and goods from one location to another.

• The human race expanded and our ancestors constantly move from one place to
another to enable them to survive and others for various reasons.

• Soon, others became “nomadic” the term nomad from the Greek word, “to pasture”.
They constantly migrate from one place to another according to their own
knowledge of exploitable resources.

• The early human beings traveled to places by foot, carrying their loads on their
back or in their head, while other pulled crude sleds. They used every means to
make their transportation with the least time and effort.
Various Ancient Modes of
Transportation
A.) MANPOWER- Early man, who had no domesticated animals carried his
own burdens. More so today, manpower is important in transportation in
many parts of the world.

B.) ANIMAL POWER- The domestication of animals greatly increased the

potential power available for transportation. Pack animals were introduced
as conveyances mainly to save labor.

C.) WIND POWER- Man realized the energy from the mass of moving air
and learned to utilize such powers to lift rather than to drag. This paved way
to invention of air lifted transportation vessels.
Manpower
1. Walking (Travelling by foot)- It is commonly cited by reference books
and literatures that man first used the power of his own feet in travelling
while a load is either carried or dragged. The word “PEDESTRIAN” was
coined from the Latin word “PEDESTER” meaning to travel by foot.

2. Carrying Pole- (In China) The carrying pole, balanced on one shoulder
is a popular carrying device.

3. Back Load and Tumpline- Goods are carried on the back or pots are
carried on a wooden framework supported by a tumpline across the
forehead.
4. Sledge on rollers- The moving of heavy burdens was to place
them on sledge which rested on a series of rollers.

5. Sledge on runners- A simple sledge, probably man-drawn,

was in use at the end of the old stone age in northern Europe, as
evidenced by fragments of wooden runners which survived.

6. Travois- This travois, as the pole arrangement called, serves

as a platform on which the burdens are placed. The platform or
crossed-beam poles are then dragged by humans or animals.
Animal Power
1. Ox- Cattle, were used as draft animals to draw war chariots.

2. Reindeer- Somewhat like the dog sledges of the far north.

3. Dog- The first animal domesticated is too slight to carry heavy loads.

4. Donkey- The donkey or ass, is still the chief beast of burden among the
farmers

5. Llama- Was the only new world animal other than the dog capable of
domestication for use in transport.
6. Elephant- The Carthaginians used African elephant in their war against
Rome but in recent centuries, these animals have not been tamed.

7. Horse- In Europe, horses were used to draw wheeled vehicles and for
riding for some time until the introduction of mechanized vehicles.

8. Camel- There are two kinds of Camel, The two-humped Bactrian camel of
Central Asia and the one-humped dromedary of Arabia have long been used
for transport.

9. Yak- A long-haired type of cattle that lives at high altitudes on the Tibetan
plateau and in the neighboring Mountains Regions is ridden and used as a
pack animal at heights were horses and ordinary animal could not survive.
Wind Power
1. Ancient Chinese Kite- Kites have been flown as a popular past time in
the Far East since the beginning of the history.
2. Da Vinci’s Ornithopter- The great renaissance artist, scientist and
engineer, Leonardo da Vinci, made study of the flight of the birds and his
notebooks sketched a number of ornithopter (a.k.a. orthopter) which
derives its principal support and propelling from flapping wings like those
of a bird. It was not until the 19th century that rigid wings were envisaged.
3. Montgolfier Balloon- The balloon constructed of linen and inflated with
hot air travelled 9,000 yards and remained in the air for 20 minutes.
4. Siemens’ Rocket Plane- Rocket plane which was propelled by the
explosive force of gunpowder.
5. Lilienthal Glider- Otto Lilienthal, a German inventor who also made a study of the
flight of birds and experimented with ornithopters, going so far as to build a model
ornithopter.

6. Santos Dumont’s Airship- One of the pioneers of lighter-than-air craft was Alberto
Santos Dumont, a Brazilian who experimented with the steam-powered balloons in
Paris.

7. Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine- Inspired by Lilienthal’s glider experiments, Orville

and Wilbur Wright began studying the problems of heavier-than-air flight. They built
biplane kite then over 200 different wings types they conducted their first man-carrying
powered machine.

8. Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis- Following the initial flight of the Wright brother’s
airplane, the development of aviation was rapid.
 Air transportation offers travelling in lesser time
but the cost is beyond reach of most common
people. Notwithstanding the inaccessibility of
most places if travelling is done through the air
even by water transportation. With no choice left,
man is left conceiving and inventing land
transportation facilities.
WHEELED VEHICLES AND ROAD
HISTORY
A. Wheel- was invented probably in Western Asia, such invention was a
milestone and a great step forward in transportation. However, pieces of
evidence were found by archeologist that wheel could have been simultaneously
invented in Southwest Asia and Mesopotamia.
As wheel was perfected, crude carts and wagons began to appear in
TIGRIS-EUPHRATES VALLEY about 3500 B.C. and later in CRETE, EGYPT
and CHINA. The wheel was one of man’s great inventions. It enabled him to
transport burdens beyond the power of man or animals to carry or drag, and
permitted much greater facility of movements than the simple sledge on rollers
which had to be continually picked up and move by hands as the sledge is
advanced. The Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel is the oldest wheel ever
found in Europe or anywhere in the world. This was discovered by two Slovene
archeologist in April 2002 in the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia.
The following were some of the earliest
types of wheeled carts:
1. Solid wheels on fixed axle- This ancient cart represent an early step in
the evolution of wheeled vehicles. Its solid wheels, which were made of
a single piece of wood, rotated on single axle.
2. Sumerian chariot with flank wheels- This chariot, about 2400 B.C. had
solid wheels built up of three pieces, and so was more durable than the
one-piece wheel.
3. Greek quadra with spoked wheels- Drawn by four horses, was a light
and elegant vehicle for gentlemen about 250 B.C. It had spoked wheels
and axles of iron or bronze, handles for aid in mounting, and seat formed
by a board placed across the handles.
4. Italian cocchio, 1288- A travelling wagon in which the passenger were
protected by a covering leather or cloth fixed over a wooden framework.
B. Ancient Rome- The following are the ancient wheeled vehicles in
Ancient Rome

1. Arcera- It had four wheels, a cover and was generally drawn by two or
more horses. The outside consisted of unhewn boards covered by loose
drapery. This vehicle was especially used to convey the sick and infirm
and was of sufficient size to allow occupants to recline.
2. Arcima- It was a small conveyance that is large enough for only one
person.
3. Basterna- It was commonly used by women when travelling and was
borne by two mules, one before and one behind each hitched to a
separate pair of shafts.
4. Benna- This four wheeled conveyance is made of wicker work and was
of Gallic origin. It can accommodate several persons when travelling.
5.Carpentum- Used by early Romans in as early as 500 B.C. and as late as 5th
century of the Christian Era. It was a covered carriage with two wheels, had seats
for two or three and was usually drawn by two mules, horses or even oxen.

6. Carruca- This had four wheels, with the front ones smaller than the two behind.
This had a cover and was drawn by two to four horses or mules. It was often
ornamented by carvings in bronze and ivory and by chasings in silver and gold.
Members of the imperial families were fun of travelling using this kind of coach.

7. Carrus- A cart with two wheels and boarded sides, it was drawn by oxen or
bullocks and was mainly used by the Roman armies for the transportation of their
baggage and supplies.

8. Cisium- A light open vehicle of Gallic origin, had two wheels and room for two
persons. It also has a box or case beneath the seat, where small baggage can be
carried in. Two or three horses or mules were used to draw this and because of the
lightness of this carriage this is especially suitable for rapid travels.
9. Pilentum- Used chiefly by women of the upper classes. It was furnished
with cushions, had a covered top, but open sides. This was also used
on state occasions by Roman matrons, priest and vestal virgins. In this,
they carried sacred vessels and rode in processions and public games.
10. Four-wheeled-Usually employed for heavy burdens but were also used
for travelling.
11. Raeda- Was common among the Romans during the last century of the
republic. A commodious vehicle of Gallic origin and had four wheels,
this was used by a man when he traveled with his family because this has
sufficient room for several persons together with their luggage.
12. Sarracum- Used by ancient Roman farmers as a travelling vehicle for
themselves and their families.
13. Tensa- A sacred vehicle elaborated ornamented with ivory and silver;
had either two or four wheels and was drawn by four horses. This carriage
was used during Circensian games, to carry the images of deities
C. WHEELED VEHICLES AND CARRIAGES- Could not use the narrow paths
and trails used by packs animals , and early roads were soon built to
accommodate the larger transportation vehicles.

D. THE ROMANS- Were the major road builders in the ancient world. The
Romans road network reached a total of about 50,000 miles, with FEEDER
road branching out from the main highways. It was costly because its deep
foundation, formed by layer after heavy stones, was necessary to make roads
that would carry heavy traffic for many years.

E. JOHN L. MACADAM- Did not abandon the theory of feeder road building and
perfected the macadamized road in England about 1815.

F. AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMANS- in the 5th century, land haulage (or
colonizing foreign lands by the European kingdoms and countries) generally
declined because highways suffered from inadequate maintenance. Such
improvements however, as the horse collars (10th century), the addition of spring
to coaches, new method of road construction, and the introduction of toll roads
(18th century) all continued to ease and speed land travels.
The invention of larger carriages and vehicles pulled either by
human beings or animals could be considered the basis of
modern highway construction.
EVOLUTION OF MOTOR VEHICLES
Motorized transportation- is one of the
greatest inventions that appeared for the last
three hundred years. The inventions in
transportation came along with the numerous
inventions during the period of “Industrial
Revolution”
A. Steam Engine- was perfected in the 1760’s by James Watt. The
invention provided power for many industries and factories in England.

B. By the end of 18th century, French, Scottish, and American inventors

attempted to apply the steam engine in water navigation.

1.French Jacques Perier built an steamboat in 1775

2. Robert Fulton launched the steamboat clermont on the Hudson

River in 1807
3. The steamer Savannah crossed the Atlantic in 1819 and by the
19th century, steam navigation replaced the sailing vessels

C. Railroads- Horse-drawn wagons with wooden wheels and rails had

been used in English and European mines during the 17th century.
 1. Richard Trevithick and some other inventors adapted the primitive
steam locomotives to the mine railway between 1797 and 1813
.
2. George Stephenson built and equipped the 32-km Stockton and
Darlington railway, the first public railway in the world powered by steam
locomotive which eventually began railroad building in England.

3. United States, although railroad began in England, it was in the US were

tremendous growth in rail transport system occurred that by 1840 more than
4,800 kms (3,000 miles) railroads were already operating in the eastern states.

D. Significant Improvement of Road Vehicle began with the adaptation

of COACH SPRING about 1650.

E. In the Mid-18th Century, English Roads were so bad that the

coaches could average only about 4 mph (6.4 km/h) and the mail was usually
carried by boys on horses.
F. John Palmer introduced his first fast mail coach in March of 1785 and
by 1800, the English coach system was in full swing.

G. The invention of Bicycle in the early 19th century served as a nursery of

automobile builders. One of the modern ancestors of the modern bicycle was
the HOBBY HORSE, or dan horse. The wheels were made of wood, with tires of
iron, and the riders pushed themselves along with their feet on the ground.
1.The German Baron Karl Von Drais IN 1817 introduced a steerable wheel,
creating the “draisienne,” or “dandy horse”.

2. In 1838, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith, made the first

machine with pedals, which were attached to and drove the rear wheel by means
of cranks.

H. Motor Vehicle- The first mode of transportation to challenge the railroads.

The following are some of the notable events leading
to the invention of motorized vehicles for road traffic;
1. Ferdinand Verbiest, a Jesuit Missionary in China, built the first steam-
powered vehicle around 1672 as a toy for the Chinese emperor.
2. In 1870-71, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his fardier a vapeur
(“steam dray”), an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor.
3. By 1784, William Murdoch had built a working model of a stream
carriage in Redruth.
4. In 1801, Richard Trevithick ran a full-sized vehicle on the road in
Camborne.
5. In 1789, Oliver Evans was granted the first automobile patent in the
United States.
6. In 1806, Swiss engineer Francoiz Isaa de Rivaz built and engine
powered by internal combustion of a hydrogen and oxygen mixture.
7. In 1815, Josef Bozek, Professor at Prague Polytechnic, built an oil-fired steam
car.
8. In 1826, Englishman Samuel Brown tested his hydrogen-fuelled internal
combustion engine by using it to propel a vehicle up Shooter’s Hill in south-east
London.
9. In 1838, Walter Hancock, built and operated steam buses in London.
10. In 1838, Christian Friedrich Schontein discovered in principle the hydrogen
fuel cell (diesel), one of the technologies hailed as a replacement for gasoline as an
energy source for cars.
11. Around 1844, Charles Goodyear invented the vulcanized rubber tires.
12. Around 1845-46, the Scottish Robert William Thomson, invented the first
vulcanized rubber tire. His invention worked well but was costly to produce.
13. In 1858, Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir also known as Jean J. Lenoir, a
Belgian engineer developed the internal combustion engine.
14. In 1859, Gaston Plante invented the lead-acid battery and Anyos Jedlik
invented the electric motor in 1828, both inventions were contributory to the
invention of electric-powered cars.
15. In 1860, Lenoir’s Hippomobile with a hydrogen-gas-fuelled one
cylendered internal combustion engine made a test drive from Paris to
Joinville-le-Pont, covering some 9 kms in about 3 hrs.
16. In 1867, Canadian Henry Seth Taylor demonstrated his 4-wheeled
“steam buggy” at the Stanstead Fair in Quebec. The basis of the buggy,
which he began building in 1865, was a high –wheeled carriage with bracing
to support a two-cylinder steam engine mounted on the floor.
17. In 1870, The Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus put a liquid-fuelled
internal combustion engine on a simple handcart which made him the first
man to propel a vehicle by means of gasoline, known as “the first Marcus
car”
18. In 1871, Dr. J.W. Carhart, invented the first steam powered carriage-
sized automobile suitable for use on existing wagon roads in the united
states.
19. In 1873, French Amedee Bollee produced the first “real” automobile
self- propelled steam road vehicles to transport groups of passengers.
20. On May 8, 1879, American George B. Selden filed for a patent which
included not only the engine but its use in a 4-wheeled car. He was finally
granted on November 5, 1895.
21. In 1882, Italy’s Enrico Bernardi patented a 0.024 horsepower 122 cc
one-cylinder petrol motor, fitting it into his son’s tricycle, making it at least a
candidate for the first automobile, and first motorcycle; in 1892, he enlarged
the tricycle to carry two adults.
22. In 1883, Marcus secured a German patent for a low-voltage ignition
system of the magneto type; this was his only automotive patent.
23. In 1884, a Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville vehicle was patented and
trailled.
24. In 1885, Karl Benz built his first automobile in Mannheim and he was
granted a patent for his automobile on 29 January 1886, He began the first
production of automobiles in 1888, after Bertha Benz, his wife, had proved-
with the first long-distance trip in August 1888, from Mannheim to Pforzheim
and back.
25. In 1885, Daimler built the first high speed internal combustion engine.
26. In 1887, (late 19th century), John Boyd Dunlop, developed the first
practical pneumatic tire (inflated with air) for bicycle and was granted patent
in 1888.
27. In 1888, marked the first production of automobiles in Germany by
Karl Benz, and in France by Emile Roger.
28. In 1889, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach designed a vehicle
from scratch to be an automobile, rather that a horse-drawn carriage fitted
with an engine. They are also credited for the first motorcycle in 1866.
29. In 1889, Panhard et Lavassor in France was the first company formed
exclusively to build automobiles, which also introduced the first four-cylinder
engine.
30. In 1890’s, the first horseless-carriage appeared in the U.S.
31. In 1893, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea founded the Duryea Motor
Wagon Company, becoming the first American automobile manufacturing
company.
32. In 1893, German inventor Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel engine also
known as compression-ignition engine is an internal combustion engine that
uses the heat compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel.
33. In 1895, Andrea Michelin was the first person to use pneumatic tires on
automobile tires but not successfully.
34. In 1897, Czech company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau later named Tatra,
produced the first motor car in central Europe and one of the first factory-made
cars in the world, the Prasident automobile.
35. In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the MODEL T, which was proved so
popular that by 1914, Ford had adopted mass production methods to meet the
demand.
36. In 1911, Philip Strauss invented the first successful automobile tire with an
air-filled inner tube (interior).
37. In 1956, Felix Wankel, a German mathematician, developed an advance-
type of engine, named after him, that operates very differently from gas and
diesel engines.
 To date, man continuously manufacture large cargo trucks and
buses for mass transportation, Presently, the introduction of the
Light Trail Transit (LRT), the Metro Rail Transit (MRT), flyovers,
pedestrian and vehicle culverts, rock sheds and other modern
traffic ways contributed to the expeditious movement of traffic
users.