How An Ignorant Law in the United Kingdom Led to Wasting Decades
The United Kingdom was undoubtedly the leader of the First Industrial Revolution, which began in the mid-18th century and ended in the mid-19th century. Being the most powerful and civilised country at its time, Great Britain was more prepared to be the pioneer of the Second Industrial Revolution than any other countries. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be the one due to a hilarious reason.
The first commercial steam vehicle
Until Richard Trevithick constructed the world’s first steam carriage in 1801, there were no trains, cars, buses or any other self-propelled passenger-carrying vehicles in the world. The only mode of public transportation was horse carriages.
Further enhanced by Walter Hancock in 1826 and John Scott Russell in 1834, the steam carriage was finally ready for commercialisation. By the way, all three men were British. Yes, Great Britain was indeed ready to welcome the Second Industrial Revolution.
The steam bus was better, in every aspect, than the horse carriage. It could accommodate 28 passengers — twice more than the horse carriage could — and travelled at 30 to 40 kilometers per hour — again, twice faster than the horse carriage. Besides, the fare of the steam bus was half of that of the horse carriage.
Whining started
The horse carriage industry started to bombard the Parliament of England with requests to regulate the steam bus. As a result, The Locomotive of Highway Act came through in 1861. This law limited the speed of the steam bus to 8 km/hour in the city and 16 km/hour in the countryside. Well, the worst is yet to come. After four years, another enactment called the Red Flag Act was passed. This time, the steam bus was allowed to travel at 3.2 km/hour in the city and 6.4 km/hour in the countryside.
For your information, the average speed of a man jogging is 6 to 10 kilometers per hour. Such ridiculous law existed for 31 years and until it was finally revoked in 1896.
Then, it was too late
However, it was too late. By the time such hilarious laws were discontinued, automotive engineers, designers and entrepreneurs had already migrated to Germany, France and the United States to continue their inventions. While the Red Flag Act was still in place in the United Kingdom, Carl Friedrich Benz invented the world’s first petrol fuel-powered motor car in Germany in 1885, and Ford built the Model T, which was considered the world’s first affordable automobile to households, in the United States in 1903.
The United Kingdom also made subsequent attempts to follow their lead in the vehicle industry, but they were certainly no longer the leader of the revolution.
The takeaway of this story: Being oblivious to innovation is dangerous
Great Britain passed such nonsense laws in goodwill. The government was trying to protect a major industry of the time and a great number of associated workers. However, eventually, they were neither able to protect the horse carriage industry nor lead the vehicle industry. They lost both. This example shows the extreme results of being oblivious to innovation.
The world gravitates toward the new and the better. Despite this fact, many countries still regulate innovative services in the hope of protecting a specific industry. For example, South Korea regulates ride-hailing services like Uber or accommodation services like AirBnB with a set of rules that do not exist in most other countries. Due to such acts, the South Korean government left a negative impression on South Korean IT engineers and entrepreneurs, consequently encouraging them to start their innovation in the United States or in Europe.
Furthermore, this lesson is not only significant to governments but also to individuals. The attitude of being acceptable to innovation from a rational perspective is the key to growth and success in any field.
