The history of traffic rules began a very long time ago, long before the appearance of the first vehicles, almost with the advent of the first roads. To mark the route, primitive travelers broke branches and made marks on the bark of trees, and placed stones of a certain shape along the roads. The next step was to give the roadside structures a specific shape to make them stand out from the surrounding landscape. For this purpose, sculptures began to be placed along the roads. One of these sculptures - a Polovtsian woman - can be seen in the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve. After the emergence of writing, inscriptions began to be made on stones, usually writing the name of the settlement to which the road leads. The very first road signs appeared on Roman roads. The world's first system of road signs arose in Ancient Rome in the 3rd century. BC e. Along the most important roads, the Romans placed cylindrical mile posts with the distance from the Roman Forum carved on them. Near the Temple of Saturn in the center of Rome there was a Golden Mile Pillar, from which all roads leading to all ends of the vast empire were measured.
APPEARANCE OF ROAD SIGNS IN EUROPE AND RUSSIA
Under the French minister Zulli and Cardinal Richelieu, regulations were issued according to which intersections of streets and roads should be marked with crosses, pillars or pyramids in order to make it easier for travelers to navigate. In Russia, the widespread distribution of road signs began much later, from the time of Peter I, who ordered by his decree “to put up mileposts painted and signed with numbers, to put up arms along the miles at intersections with an inscription where it lies.” Quite quickly, mileposts appeared on all the main roads of the state. Over time, this tradition has been constantly improved. Already in the 18th century. poles began to indicate the distance, the name of the area and the boundaries of possessions. Milestones began to be painted with black and white stripes, which ensured their better visibility at any time of the day.
MODERN ROAD SIGNS.
The first road signs in the modern sense appeared in 1903 in France. The impetus for revising the traffic warning system was the appearance of the first cars and, accordingly, accidents that inevitably happened here and there. The car was faster than a horse-drawn carriage, and in case of danger, the iron one simply could not brake as quickly as an ordinary horse. In addition, the horse is alive, it is able to react on its own without waiting for the coachman’s decision. However, accidents were quite rare, but they aroused enormous public interest precisely because they were rare. To calm the public, three road signs were installed on the streets of Paris: “steep descent”, “dangerous turn”, “rough road”. A road sign depicting the symbol “Steep descent ahead” first appeared in the mid-19th century on the mountain roads of Switzerland and Austria. The sign was depicted on roadside rocks and depicted a wheel or brake shoe used on carriages. Signs began to spread following the first automobile traffic rules, which could not provide for the entire variety of road situations. Road transport, naturally, developed not only in France, and each country thought about how to make road traffic safer. To discuss this problem, representatives of European countries met in 1906 and developed the “International Convention concerning the Movement of Motor Vehicles.” The convention prescribed the requirements for the car itself and the basic rules of the road, and also introduced four road signs: “rough road”, “winding road”, “intersection”, “intersection with railway”. The signs should have been installed 250 meters before the dangerous area. A little later, after the ratification of the convention, road signs appeared in Russia, and, characteristically, motorists did not pay attention to them. Despite the convention, each country began to come up with its own traffic signs, which is no wonder: four signs are not enough for all occasions. For example, Japan and China were limited to a couple of hieroglyphs that denoted some rule; European countries were deprived of the ability to express an entire rule with two written characters, so they came up with symbols and images. In the USSR, a little man crossing a pedestrian crossing was invented. Inside the country, everything was clear with the signs, but a person traveling abroad found himself in an unpleasant situation, where out of many signs two or three turned out to be familiar. To make life easier for drivers, in 1931 the “Convention for the Introduction of Uniformity and Signaling on Roads” was adopted in Geneva, which was signed by the USSR, most European countries and Japan. Although this did not lead to complete uniformity of road signs. For example, in pre-war times, two systems of road signs were in operation simultaneously: the European one, based on the same 1931 convention, and the Anglo-American one, in which inscriptions were used instead of symbols, and the signs themselves were square or rectangular.
HISTORY OF ROAD SIGNS IN RUSSIA.
In Russia, road signs began to appear in 1911. The magazine Avtomobilist No. 1, 1911 wrote on its pages: “The First Russian Automobile Club in Moscow, starting in the fall of this year, begins placing warning signs on the highways of the Moscow province. ... The drawings of warning signs are international, accepted everywhere in Western Europe.” The Soviet Union joined the International Convention on Roads and Motor Transport in 1959, and from January 1, 1961, uniform Rules of the Road on the streets of cities, towns and roads of the USSR came into force. Along with the new rules, new road signs were introduced: the number of warning signs increased to 19, prohibitions - to 22, and directional signs - to 10. Signs indicating permitted directions of movement were allocated to a separate group of prescriptive ones and received a blue background and white cone-shaped symbols arrow Much in these signs is unusual for the modern driver. The sign “Traveling without stopping is prohibited” had the shape of a yellow circle with a red border with an equilateral triangle inscribed in it with the vertex down, on which “Stop” was written in Russian. The sign could be used not only at intersections, but also on narrow sections of roads, where it was obligatory to give way to oncoming traffic. Operating since 1973 The signs are familiar to modern car enthusiasts. Warning and prohibition signs acquired a white background and a red border, the number of indicator signs increased from 10 to 26 due to the inclusion of various signs.
THE EMERGENCE OF ROAD TRAFFIC RULES.
The first attempts to regulate road traffic were made in Ancient Rome, where one-way traffic for chariots was introduced on some streets. Specially designated guards monitored the implementation of this rule. In our country, Peter the Great issued a decree on maintaining road safety, which regulated the movement of horses. For non-compliance with the rules, a person could be sent to hard labor. Since 1718, police officers began to be responsible for enforcing traffic rules. The first rules of the road sounded quite funny. For example, in Russia there was a requirement that a boy run in front of the car, loudly shouting to announce the approach of the carriage, so that respectable townspeople would not faint from horror when a monster appeared on the road moving at a nightmarish speed. Also, the rules ordered drivers to slow down and stop if their approach would cause anxiety in the horses. In England, a person with a red flag must walk in front of each steam stagecoach at a distance of 55 meters. When meeting carriages or riders, he must warn that a steam engine is following him. Also, drivers are strictly prohibited from frightening horses with whistles. Letting off steam from cars is allowed only if there are no horses on the road.
MODERN TRAFFIC RULES.
The first traffic rules for cars were introduced in France on August 14, 1893. In 1908, it was invented to issue white canes to the police, with which the police regulated traffic and showed the direction for drivers and pedestrians. In 1920, the first official traffic rules appeared: “On motor traffic in Moscow and its environs (rules).” These rules already thoroughly regulated many important issues. Mention was also made of a driver's license, which the driver must have. A speed limit was introduced, which could not be exceeded. Modern traffic rules were introduced in our country in January 1961.
APPEARANCE OF THE FIRST TRAFFIC LIGHT.
The first traffic light appeared at the end of 1868 in London on the square near the English Parliament. It consisted of two gas lamps with red and green glasses. The device duplicated the signals of the traffic controller in the dark and thereby helped members of parliament to calmly cross the roadway. The author of the invention was engineer J.P. Knight. Unfortunately, his creation lasted only four weeks. A gas lamp exploded, injuring a policeman on duty near it. Only half a century later - on August 5, 1914 - new traffic lights were installed in the American city of Cleveland. They switched between red and green and emitted a warning beep. Since then, the triumphal procession of traffic lights around the world began; August 5 is celebrated as International Traffic Light Day. The first three-color traffic light appeared in 1918 in New York. After some time, their authority was recognized by motorists in Detroit and Michigan. The authors of the “three-eyed” were William Potts and John Harris. The traffic light returned overseas to Europe only in 1922. But not immediately to the city where they first started talking about him - to London. Traffic lights first appeared in France, in Paris at the intersection of Rue de Rivoli and Sevastopol Boulevard. And then in Germany, in the city of Hamburg on Stefanplatz Square. In the United Kingdom, the electric traffic controller appeared only in 1927 in the city of Wolverhampton. But the first traffic light in our country went into operation on January 15, 1930 at the corner of Nevsky and Liteiny Prospekts in Leningrad, and on December 30 of the same year at the corner of Petrovka and Kuznetsky Most in Moscow.
INTERESTING FACTS.
There are many funny cases and interesting facts associated with traffic rules and signs. Let's dwell on only two of them: For example, the origin of the word “driver” is interesting: the first “self-propelled car” was intended for transporting guns and was a three-wheeled cart with a steam boiler. When the steam ran out, the machine stopped and the boiler had to be heated again. To do this, they lit a fire under it on the ground and waited for steam to form again. So, most of the time, drivers of the first cars heated a boiler and boiled water in it. Therefore, they began to be called chauffeurs, which translated from French means “stoker.” Another story involves road signs. Today, in Russia alone, more than two and a half hundred road signs are used, covering almost all directions of traffic, and the system is constantly developing and improving. There were some funny moments: at some point, the “rough road” sign disappeared from the list, returning to service only in 1961. It is unknown why the sign disappeared; either the roads suddenly became smooth, or their condition was so sad that there was no point in issuing a warning.
Every year there are more and more cars on the streets of our cities. Their movement requires orderliness and compliance with certain rules to ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians.
For this purpose, in every country, including Russia, a special set of traffic rules has been developed that regulates the rights and responsibilities of all people on the roads. What is traffic rules? Where are they used and what are the consequences of violating them?
Traffic rules are traffic rules and technical requirements that apply to vehicles while driving. The first to attempt to introduce them on city streets was the Roman commander Julius Caesar.
Back in the 50s BC, he ordered all owners of carts and chariots to move only on one side and not to go on the roads after sunset. During the Middle Ages in Europe, knights were allowed to drive on the right, which is still in effect in most countries of the world today.
The modern history of traffic rules begins in London in 1868, when a mechanical semaphore appeared in front of the British Parliament. Since then, the rules for traveling on roads have been constantly expanding and adding new requirements due to the growing number of vehicles.
The main purpose of traffic rules is to protect motorists and pedestrians from road accidents that result in damage to vehicles, injury or death. 
Every driver should know them, because if he breaks the rules and gets into an accident, then at best he will get off with a fine and expenses for vehicle repairs, and at worst he will die or go to prison for causing injury to other participants in the accident. For this reason, knowledge of traffic rules is a prerequisite for obtaining a driver's license.
The most dangerous traffic violations are considered to be driving while intoxicated, with a faulty brake system, lighting equipment or steering wheel controls, as well as speeding and driving against a red light. They threaten that the driver may lose control and have an accident. Violating the rules for using seat belts, overtaking, or crossing railroad crossings that are closed by a barrier poses no less of a threat.
Not so dangerous, but fraught with unpleasant consequences, are considered to be driving unregistered vehicles, driving without documents or improperly carrying out. 
You can also be punished for violating the rules for transporting dangerous or large cargo, and for minibus drivers - for transporting passengers in excess of the established number.
A fairly common traffic violation is parking cars on lawns. Some drivers do not know well what such a territory is like, so they calmly leave their vehicles there and then pay with fines.
In accordance with the traffic rules of the Russian Federation, a lawn is considered to be an area with a turf covering, which was artificially created by sowing seeds and growing turf-creating plants.
The lightest punishment a driver can receive for violating traffic rules is a warning or a fine in the amount established by the state. For more serious violations, they may be deprived of their driver’s license (temporarily or permanently) and prohibited from operating vehicles with the registration plates removed.
For driving without a driver's license or while under the influence of alcohol (drugs), you can be arrested for 15 days, and if people died during the accident, there is a high probability of receiving a prison sentence.
According to the new traffic rules as amended in 2015, for driving while intoxicated or handing over a car to a person under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the driver may lose his license for up to 2 years. In case of repeated violation, the document is confiscated for up to 3 years.
If a motorist drives on the roads without registration plates, he may lose his license for 3 months, and if the plates were knowingly forged, his license will be taken away for 6–12 months. 
For using red lighting equipment, your license can be taken away for 6–12 months, for speeding or driving into the oncoming lane – for 4–6 months, and for transporting large cargo without a permit or for driving through a closed railway crossing – for six months.
Traffic regulation is an issue posed in the distant past. The movement of pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages also required regulation. In those days, this was carried out by royal decrees.
The history of traffic rules dates back to Ancient Rome. Julius Caesar introduced one-way traffic on several streets in the city in the 50s BC. From sunrise until approximately two hours before sunset (the end of the working day), the passage of private carts and chariots was prohibited.
Visitors to the city had to travel in Rome on foot or on a palanquin (stretchers on long poles), and park their vehicles outside the city limits.
Already at that time there was a surveillance service monitoring compliance with these rules. It consisted mainly of former firefighters
The duties of this service were to prevent conflict situations among vehicle owners. The intersections were not regulated. To ensure free passage, nobles sent walkers ahead. They cleared the streets and the nobles could thus freely travel to their destination.
Over time, changes and additions were made to the rules, stipulating features when driving through intersections, changing the speed limit when approaching an intersection, and prohibiting overtaking in difficult areas. One of the additions was a rule giving priority in traffic to pedestrians. A religious procession or, for example, a funeral ceremony also enjoyed an advantage in the movement.
The basis of modern traffic rules was laid on December 10, 1868 in London. On this day, the first railway semaphore appeared in the square in front of Parliament in the form of a colored disk with mechanical control. This semaphore was invented by J.P. Knight, a semaphore specialist of that time.
The device consisted of two semaphore wings, and depending on the position of the wings, the corresponding signal was indicated:
- Horizontal position – movement prohibited
- Position at an angle of 45 degrees - movement is allowed, but with precautions.
At night, a gas lamp was used, signaling in red and green. The traffic light was controlled by a servant in livery.
The technical implementation of the semaphore was not so successful. The chain of the mechanism for raising and lowering the booms was so noisy that it greatly frightened the horses, making it difficult for the coachman to control. Less than a month later, a semaphore exploded, injuring a police officer.
The number of vehicles continued to increase, and the first cars began to replace the carts. The need for traffic management has increased significantly. The first rods for manually regulating traffic at intersections appeared in 1908. The first road signs can be considered signs indicating movement to a populated area.
In 1909, at a world conference in Paris, it was decided to create unified European Traffic Rules, as the number of cars continued to grow, and the speed limit and traffic intensity on city streets increased.
The next step in the development of traffic management was at the traffic conference in Geneva in 1931 "Convention for the Introduction of Uniformity in Road Signaling" was adopted. The Soviet Union was also a participant in this conference.
The first official publication of the Road Traffic Rules in the USSR took place in 1920. The document had a title “About traffic in Moscow and its environs”. This document has already described in detail many important issues. Driver's licenses for the right to drive have appeared, and the maximum speed limit has been designated. In 1940, general traffic regulations were issued for the entire union, which were edited for each city.
Unified general traffic rules valid throughout the entire territory of the USSR were introduced in 1961. “Rules for driving on the streets of cities, towns and roads of the USSR”
The most important date in the history of the Road Traffic Rules is November 8, 1968. On this day in Vienna I was The Convention on Road Traffic was adopted. The document was signed by representatives of 68 countries and is still in force today.
By 1973, the USSR traffic rules were written in accordance with the Vienna Convention. With the passage of time and corresponding changes on the roads, the constant growth of transport, and the technological development of road networks, adjustments and additions are constantly being introduced.
The latest changes as of the date of writing this material came into force on November 24, 2012, and the State Duma is always considering bills aimed at adapting the rules to the real situation on the roads.
The huge flow of cars on the streets of Russian cities has long become commonplace, not frightening or surprising to anyone. Today, the vast majority of the country's residents of any gender strive to obtain a driver's license and diligently study the rules of the road. At the same time, few people know that Tsar Ivan III was the first to try to regulate the behavior of cab drivers and riders on the roads of Russia back in the fifteenth century. He streamlined the movement of horse-drawn carriages along postal routes for those traveling long distances. And at the end of the seventeenth century, Peter the Great contributed to its rules, forbidding fast driving around Moscow. He also introduced right-hand traffic and established a police department that monitored compliance with traffic rules in Russia.
A little later, Tsarina Anna Ioanovna created a decree according to which cab drivers exceeding the prescribed speed were fined, flogged and even sent to hard labor as punishment for this. Then the rules were constantly changed, supplemented, acquiring more and more new details. The number of private cab drivers in the big cities of Russia was growing, they needed to be controlled, and therefore cab licenses were invented. Horse-drawn cars with numbers appeared on the streets, which were only allowed to be driven by sober and tidy people who had the appropriate permit. New rules for crossing intersections arose, accompanied by a ban on leaving carts anywhere.
In the nineteenth century, the first cars, originally called “self-propelled carriages,” appeared on the roads. They were not able to develop a decent speed, moving no faster than three kilometers per hour, but after that road traffic began to require more careful organization. As a result, in 1900 in St. Petersburg, the authorities approved a new set of traffic rules, some of which still exist today. Their obligatory items were car registration, provision of vehicles with state license plates and its annual inspection by a special commission. The numbers were only valid for a year at that time. Drivers constantly paid for their new registration, and the money went to the treasury and was considered a transport tax. It is interesting that in different cities the license plates on cars had different dimensions.
Russian citizens who have reached the age of twenty-one and are well literate could obtain a driving license. They took the exam at educational institutions that trained drivers. Traffic rules in those days included sound signals when approaching railroad crossings, reducing speed or stopping when passing intersections that were being crossed by horse-drawn carriages at the same time. When stopping, cars had to be parked near the sidewalks so that they were lined up in the direction of travel. The car drove on the right side, overtaking was allowed on the left side, but driving on it for a long time was prohibited.
The maximum speed when driving cars in Moscow was limited to 25 kilometers per hour, in St. Petersburg - 20 kilometers per hour, trucks could drive in large cities of Russia at a speed of no more than 12 kilometers per hour. Moreover, on especially busy streets they moved only at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour. Violation of the rules was punishable by a fine of up to one hundred rubles or arrest for 14 days. Driving while intoxicated resulted in a driver's license being revoked. On roads with outposts, it was necessary to pay a fee for travel, that is, they were toll roads.
The first “traffic cops” appeared in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century. The police were given white canes, which they used to signal drivers. When the cane rose up, the carriage drivers, car owners, and cyclists stopped. Signs on Russian roads began to be installed around the same time in accordance with a convention adopted in France in 1909. It determined the appearance of the signs, the responsibilities and rights of pedestrians and drivers.
Since then, the traffic rules have been amended several times. In 1940, unified regulations for the USSR on traffic rules were adopted, and in 1957 they changed, eliminating some restrictions and establishing driving rules for individual republics. Regulations have appeared on the appearance of cars and the procedure for conducting exams, which were last determined in March 2016. Now the set of tasks for these exams is determined by the state inspector for road safety of the Russian Federation. According to such regulations, anyone who has Russian citizenship and those who temporarily reside in Russia can apply to take the exams. They have the right to declare this through the federal state system www.gosuslugi.ru or www.gibdd.ru. An application at the regional level is also submitted through the website www.gibdd.ru, and our website allows you to test your knowledge and determine the degree of preparedness for the exams. We provide a range of services that give users the opportunity to replenish their knowledge and thoroughly study all the nuances of driving cars on the roads of Russia and abroad.
There is not a single large city in the world that does not face a transport problem. However, contrary to widespread belief, it did not arise with the beginning of mass production of cars. For example, the problems of traffic jams and parking spaces were acutely felt even... in Ancient Rome. And the first who took up their solution was Julius Caesar. Traditionally, he is considered only an outstanding commander, statesman and writer. But few people know that it was Julius Caesar who introduced the ancient Roman traffic rules. For all their imperfections, they already included a number of provisions that are still used today to curb the traffic flood that floods modern cities. Thus, one-way streets were introduced to prevent congestion. In addition, the passage of private chariots, carts and carriages in Rome was prohibited from sunrise to the end of the "working day", which approximately corresponded to two hours before sunset. Even more stringent restrictions applied to nonresident owners of vehicles of any kind, who were required to leave them outside the city limits and could only move through the streets on foot or by “taxi,” that is, in hired palanquins.
Naturally, monitoring compliance with these rules also required the creation of a special service, which recruited mainly freedmen who had previously performed the functions of firefighters. The main task of ancient Roman traffic controllers was to prevent unwanted incidents between the “drivers” of chariots and carts, who were often inclined to decide the right of way with their fists.
On the other hand, since traffic lights had not yet been invented in Ancient Rome, and the few “traffic police inspectors” with the growth of traffic flows were unable to ensure universal order, noble nobles and wealthy merchants found their own way of solving the problem of uncontrolled intersections: they sent walkers ahead of them , which blocked traffic at intersections, ensuring unhindered passage of the owners' chariots.
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The prototype of modern traffic rules was adopted in France.
The first traffic rules in the world were adopted in France on August 16, 1893. It was then that the Paris police prefect decided to restore order to the street traffic of newly appeared cars. There were already 600 cars in the country and these cars, naturally, were mostly located in the capital of France. The city has already developed a list of rules for driving mechanical carriages around the city. It was forbidden to drive and stop on sidewalks, alleys and places intended only for pedestrian traffic. It was forbidden to drive around the city at a speed of more than 12 km/h, and outside the city at a speed of more than 20 km/h.
