1. When you are ready, left click to start viewing the materials

2. Welcome to the Certificate in Motor Vehicle& Road Users
In 1865, the read flag act restricted all
mechanical road vehicles to a speed of
4m.p.h, a crew minimum of 2 and third man
walking ahead with a red flag.

3. Stone Age/Bronze Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time during which humans moved about through natural valleys and paths / ridgeways in search of food and shelter. Stone was widely used for tool making.
In continental Europe, wheeled vehicles appeared around B.C. in the form of heavy wagons drawn by oxen.
The Bronze Age is the period in which the most advanced forms of metalworking had been developed to produce advanced tools.

4. Roman Roads
The first Roman road was the Via Appia and was built in the year 312 B.C.This road stretched for over 6018 Km across Western and Southern Europe. The roads were mainly built for their armies to conquer other countries, letting them travel quickly and safety, but they were soon used for trade and travelling to different cities.
In Britain the Roman roads stretched from London out across the country and followed the route of the conquest, they were built in straight lines, they did not have to worry about the environment or who owned the land, this also allowed them to see their enemies approaching. The roads were built to a very high standard and lasted for centuries, however when the Romans left Britain the roads started to wear away because nobody maintained them. The main forms of transport were pack horse and man.

5. The Middle Ages
Road maintenance was left to the parishes and those who lived in them. Each parish had the responsibility for the roads in their area and local people were forced by law to work unpaid to keep the roads maintained. Both paid and unpaid labour was used between 1555 – 1835.
By the 18th century the above system of road maintenance was failing and the roads were becoming worn away, most traffic consisted of horse carts and new wheeled vehicles, the soft dirt tracks were not able to cope.
Turnpike trusts were local companies that were set up to maintain roads. They were toll roads, where the user had to pay a fee ( a toll) to use the road. These trusts were needed because the government did not finance things such as the roads at the time.
Turnpike trusts had to raise a lot of money to make improvements to the roads. Further improvements were made, by engineers such as Telford, MacAdam and Metcalfe. These men used a range of ideas, to make the roads flatter, smoother and more hard wearing.

6. Turnpike Trust What the roads were like
before tarmac and regular repairs
Road improvements
made by the engineers
Turnpike Trust

7. By 1830 there were more than 1000 Turnpikes companies, however due to lack of money and or a lack of understanding of road maintenance, they failed to provide a suitable road network .
At the same time Britain saw the arrival of the first railways, which become a fast and safe way to travel. (no highway men). The last Turnpike closed in 1895.
By the end of the 19th century district councils had taken responsibility for the road network.
Today the Highways Agency looks after all the major Trunk Roots by act of parliament.

8. The Canals
Canals are man made waterways. They were built during the Industrial Revolution to allow industry to more large quantities of raw materials and goods to and from the factories. A canal has several advantages over the roads of that time, a boat or barge, on a canal can give a much smoother ride, so fragile goods were less likely to get damaged, much greater loads could be transported, once the canal had been built it was cheap to use. Canal building stopped once the railways took hold, today many canals have been reopened for tourism and help relieve our overstretched transport system

9. The Railways
Railways developed quickly following the early successes of Stephenson and other pioneers. The railways spread across the country at a amazing rate as companies were established to build and run the new lines. Many were financed by industry, eager to have a quicker delivery of goods and wider sales areas. The impact of the railways was great, industry benefited as goods could now be transported faster and in even greater quantities than before, reducing costs and creating bigger markeks.The construction of the railways network also fuelled the demand for coal and steel. Ordinary people were able to travel around the country much quicker, newspapers and the postage system become much quicker, towns and cities expanded rapidly, however many people lost money from investing in the canal network and people who worked on the canals found themselves out of work.

10. The Early Road Builders
John Metcalfe ( ) – was born in Yorkshire where at the age of six he caught smallpox which blinded him for his life. This earned him the name of “Blind Jack”. When he grew up he become a chartered surveyor and rapidly learned by touch how bad the roads were. When new roads were planned he offered to help build them. During his life he built 288 kilometres of roads in the North of England.
Thomas Telford ( ) – built canals and bridges as well as roads. In 1801, the government sent him to Scotland to prepare a report on the state of the roads. He found that they were so bad that he begun to build new ones. His roads made it possible for carts and wagons to travel to many parts of the Scottish Highlands for the first time and in 1811 the first stage-coach service started between Perth and Inverness. Late in his life he improved the roads in Wales. Telford’s roads used large stones as foundations, followed by a layer of broken stones and gravel as a final surface. The top had a curved surface to drain water into ditches either side.

11. John Macadam ( ) – in 1815 he was put in charge of the roads around Bristol. He improved them so much, he was soon building roads all over Britain. Unlike Telford, he did not use a foundation of large stones. Instead, he put down just one layer of small broken stones about 250 – 300mm deep. The stones had to be exactly the right size. Macadam’s workmen were told the stones must be small enough to fit into a man’s mouth, or go through a 50mm ring. The solid wheels of the carts and stage – coaches pushed the stones together. When completed, they also made a fine dust. When it rained, this formed a layer which was almost waterproof. Both Telford’s and Macadam’s methods are still used today. The construction of new roads meant people could move faster. In 1760, a fast stage – coach took three days from London to Manchester. In 1832, it took 17 hours.
In the 1930,s in Europe, the roads developed into major arteries. Autobahns (Motorways) appeared in Nazi Germany.
In Britain, since the 2 World War, an extensive Motorway network has been developed, with the increase in loads that commercial vehicles could transport, there has been a decline in the use of the rail network.

12. The Car: from dream to necessity
No one actually invented the car. It evolved from the horse-drawn carriage, its near-relative the steam carriage and perhaps the 19th – century tricycle, but as the years went by it gradually lost its likeness to any of its predecessors
Engine development – 1860 Jean Etienne Lenoir built the first practicable gas engine, from which the modern internal combustion engine developed from. In the first engine the mixture of coal gas and air was not compressed before ignition, so it was inefficient.
1876 – Count Nikolus Otto – successfully applied the four stroke cycle that had been proposed by Beau da Rochas, this allowed the charge to compressed which greatly improved performance. At about this time, petrol come into use as a fuel.
1880s most of the progress was made in Germany – by Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz.. Daimler, working with Wilhelm Maybach, produced his first engine in 1883, and it created a sensation by running at more than four times the speed of Otto’s engine – 900 rpm! Benz, on the other hand, started with the objective of making his own self-propelled vehicle, and in 1885 he installed his first engine in the back of a tricycle. Within a year or so, both were building cars for sale.
In 1892 German engineer Rudolf Diesel patented the engine that bears his name, an engine that does not need a spark to ignite the fuel mixture.

13. The Twentieth Century
During the years that followed the achievements of Daimler and Benz, cars were hand built and were very expensive.
Henry Ford revolutionised the production of the motor car. He developed and ran the first mass production line system. His car the Model T, was cheap, small, and simple. Henry Ford brought the motor car to the ordinary man. Between 1908 and 1927, over 15 million model T”s were built and used all over the world.
In the 1930”s streamlining was introduced to make the cars go faster and become more economical. Ferdinande Porsche, designed the revolutionary Volkswagen Beetle.
In the 1950”s the firms of Austin and Morris combined to form the British Motor Corporation. The companies chief designer, Sir Alex Issigonis, developed and produced the world famous Mini, which had a transverse engine driving the front wheels. It was cheap to buy and run.
Felix Wankel developed the first Rotary Engine system and in 1964 the first Wankel engine car appeared, due to technical problems it was not very successful, however, today, Mazda have developed and still use the Wankle engine.

14. The Ford Model T
Henry Ford revolutionised car making through the use of Mass Production

15. Ferdinande Porsche, designed the revolutionary Volkswagen Beetle

16. Sir Alex Issigonis, developed and produced the would famous Mini

17. In 1876 – Count Nikolus Otto successfully
applied the Four Stroke Cycle to the
reciprocating piston engine

18. The Rotary Engine designed
by Felix Wankel – note there are
no pistons going up and down.