"Autocrats"

Between invention and ubiquity, the missing link in the history of the automobile is a group of early hobbyists christened "Autocrats" by the Dutch engineer W. Valdepoort in his book The Selfish Car (1953). Indeed, as early as 1905, an anonymous French caricaturist's depiction of an early traffic jam was titled The Sovereigns (at left).
The early development of the automobile (a French word) was a competition between French and German inventors, followed closely by automobile clubs for the mostly well-to-do who enjoyed a freedom of the road that no contemporary driver stuck in traffic will ever experience. Clubs published guides that recommnded that drivers avoid "autophobic" towns where the locals made known their displeasure with noise, dust, and speeding vehicles.

We get a representative taste of the conflict from a German tourist named Maragete Witte (1905): " a journey through Holland is dangerous since most of the rural populace hates motorists fanatically. We even encountered old men, their faces contorted with anger, who, without any provocation, threw fist-sized stones at us."The arrogance of drivers became a stock subject for early 20th century illustrators, and they did not have to look far for inspiration. Early German traffic laws allowed hit and run drivers to leave the scene of an accident without reporting it to the authorities.
Octave Mirbeau in Sketches of a Journey (1908, translated by D. B. Tubbs) wrote “How frustrating, how thoroughly disheartening it is that these pigheaded, obstructive villagers whose hens, dogs and sometimes children I mow down, fail to appreciate I represent Progress and universal happiness. I intend to bring them these benefits in spite of themselves, even if they don’t live to enjoy them!”

William K. Vanderbilt’s reckless driving inspired the first posted speed limits in the United States. In France, Vanderbilt. had to flee angry mobs after he killed two dogs in Pau and injured a Tuscan child. In 1902, some normally peaceful Swiss beat him and threatened to burn his car, until the police intervened. All this mayhem began when ten year old William K., II, rode a motorized tricycle. In 1904, he sponsored the first road race in America, the Vanderbilt Cup, held on Long Island near his parents' estate and, in 1909, Vanderbilt financed the first road in the country constructed solely for the use of automobiles, the Long Island Motor Parkway.

The first road race in France was the Gordon Bennett Cup, financed by the owner of The New York Herald newspaper, first held in 1900, with a route from Paris to Lyon.
Pictured below is the winner of the 1903 cup, Belgian racing driver Camille Jenatzy (1868-1913), nicknamed the Red Devil for his beard. Jentazy had been the first to break the 100 km speed barrier in his Mercedes. Jenatzy predicted that he would die in a Mercedes, but he could not have guessed the way it would happen. Accidentally shot by a hunting companion, Jenatzy bled to death as he was being taken to a hospital - in his Mercedes.

Images: Musee de la Voiture, Compiegne, France.