Traffic Management and Road History Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms and historical milestones from CDI 04 Traffic Management and Accident Investigation lecture notes.

Traffic (Etymology)

Derived from Old French 'trafique', Spanish 'traffico', or Italian 'trafficare' (meaning to trade or carry on trade, from Latin 'trans' meaning across + Italian 'ficcare' meaning to thrust in or bring).

Tafriq

An Arabic word meaning distribution, referring to people and vehicles coming and going; first recorded in 1825.

Traffic

The movement of persons, goods, or vehicles—either powered by a combustion system or animal-drawn—from one place to another for the purpose of travel.

Transportation

Derived from Latin 'trans' (across) and 'portare' (to carry); the movement or conveying of persons and goods from one location to another.

Nomad

Derived from a Greek word meaning 'to pasture'; originally referred to pastoralist groups migrating in an established pattern to find pasturelands for livestock.

Foraging Populations

A type of non-settled population that wanders in search of food; estimated to account for 99 percent of all humanity at one time.

Pastoral Nomads

Non-settled populations who move with families, belongings, and herds of livestock through an annual cycle of pastures determined by seasons.

Pedestrian

Coined from the Latin word 'pedester', which means to travel by foot.

Carrying Pole

A load-carrying device used in China and the Far East, balanced on one shoulder with ends supported by two men and goods suspended in between.

Tumpline

A strap placed across the forehead used to support a load or wooden framework carried on the back.

Travois

A pole arrangement forming a platform on which burdens are placed, dragged by humans or animals.

Sledge on Runners

A simple man-drawn sledge used at the end of the Stone Age in Northern Europe, evidenced by surviving wooden runner fragments.

Bactrian Camel

A two-humped camel native to Central Asia used to draw carts and carry loads along caravan routes between China and Iran for at least 2,000 years.

Dromedary

A one-humped camel of Arabia that is fleeter than the Bactrian camel and bred by Arab nomads as a fast-paced riding camel.

Yak

A long-haired type of cattle living at high altitudes on the Tibetan plateau and neighboring mountain regions, used as a pack animal.

Ornithopter

An aircraft design studied and sketched by Leonardo Da Vinci that derives principal support and propulsion from flapping wings like those of a bird.

Montgolfier Balloon Ascent (1783)

The first free balloon ascent made by Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes in a linen hot-air balloon traveling 9,000 yards over 20 minutes.

Siemens' Rocket Plane

A 1847 aircraft design by Ernst Werner Von Siemens intended to be propelled by the explosive force of gunpowder.

Santos Dumont's Airship

An airship built by Alberto Santos Dumont, who in 1901 completed a 30-minute round-trip flight between St. Louis and the Eiffel Tower.

Spirit of St. Louis

The custom-built airplane in which Captain Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight from New York to Paris in May 1927.

Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel

The oldest wheel ever found in the world, discovered in Slovenia in April 2002 and carbon-dated to approximately 5,200 years old.

Quadriga

A light and elegant Greek vehicle with spoked wheels drawn by four horses around 250 B.C.

Carpentum

A Roman two-wheeled covered carriage with seats for 2 or 3 people, usually drawn by two mules, horses, or oxen.

Basterna

A Roman vehicle commonly used by women when travelling, borne by two mules (one before and one behind).

Carruca

A covered Roman four-wheeled vehicle whose front wheels were smaller than the rear wheels, drawn by 2 or 4 horses or mules.

Carrus

A Roman two-wheeled cart with boarded sides drawn by oxen or bullocks, used by Roman armies to transport baggage and supplies.

Cisium

A light open Roman vehicle with 2 wheels and space for 2 persons.

Raeda

A common Roman four-wheeled vehicle with sufficient room to carry families along with their luggage.

Tensa

A sacred Roman vehicle elaborately ornamented with ivory and silver, used to carry images of deities.

Macadamized Road

A road construction technique perfected by John L. Macadam in England around 1815.

Draisienne (Dandy Horse)

A steerable wheel vehicle introduced in 1817 by German Baron Karl Von Drais, used for collecting taxes from tenants.

Fardier a Vapeur

An experimental steam-driven artillery tractor demonstrated by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot in 1870-71.

Puffing Devil

A full-sized steam road locomotive built by Richard Trevithick that successfully ran up Camborne Hill in Cornwall.

Hippomobile

A vehicle built by Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir in 1860 powered by a hydrogen-gas-fueled, one-cylinder internal combustion engine.

First Marcus Car

A simple handcart fitted with a liquid-fueled internal combustion engine built by Siegfried Marcus in 1870, marking the first vehicle propelled by gasoline.

Grandfather Clock Engine (Standuhr)

A high-speed internal combustion engine running at 600 rpm, built and patented in 1885 by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach.

Duryea Motor Wagon Company

The first American automobile manufacturing company, founded in 1893 by brothers Charles and Frank Duryea.

Diesel Engine

A compression-ignition internal combustion engine developed by Rudolf Diesel in 1893 that uses heat from compression to ignite fuel.

Model T

An automobile introduced by Henry Ford in 1908 that became so popular it led to the adoption of mass production assembly methods by 1914.

Wankel Engine

An advanced type of internal combustion engine developed in 1956 by German mathematician Felix Wankel that operates differently from conventional gas and diesel engines.