Speeding in Belleville

One of our projects for the summer of 2024 has been the digitization of the early minute books for the Town of Belleville. These are now available online through the Internet Archive.

The first council was the Board of Police, which was established in 1836 with responsibility to establish rules for the governance of the town.  Five men made up the Board: Billa Flint (who was elected President), William Connor, Zenas Dafoe, William McCarty and Asa Yeomans. At the second meeting of the Board, held on June 18th, the members appointed five other officials and then established the town's first set of "Ordinances & Regulations".

At the time of writing, the City of Belleville has recently installed an Automated Speed Enforcement system. Speed was clearly top of mind in 1836, too, as the first law ever written in the municipality was aimed at preventing people with horses travelling "faster than a moderate trot" in any street of the town, or "faster than a walk" over any of the town's bridges.

The full text of the ordinance reads:

1. Ordered. – That any person or persons who shall or may hereafter be found riding or driving in any street of the Town faster than a moderate trot, shall be liable to a fine or penalty of five shillings. And any person who shall or may hereafter be found riding or driving over any Bridge within the limits of the Town, faster than a walk, shall be liable to a fine or penalty of five shillings for every such offence.

Five shillings in 1836 would, we estimate, be around $65 in 2024 money. This would be the same as the fine imposed today for a Belleville driver who is photographed travelling 13 kph over the posted speed limit. Things have changed in nearly 200 years, but not too much!