Car Accidents – Then and Now
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Got off a streetcar and killed by a motor car. A metaphor for our age.
Got off a streetcar and killed by a motor car. A metaphor for our age.
110 years ago today, Henry Hale Bliss (June 13, 1830 – September 14, 1899) was the first person killed in a motor vehicle accident in the Western Hemisphere. On September 13, 1899 he was disembarking from a streetcar at West 74th Street and Central Park West in New York City, when an electric-powered taxicab (Automobile No. 43) struck him and crushed his head and chest. He died from his injuries the next morning.
Arthur Smith, the driver of the taxicab, was arrested and charged with manslaughter but was acquitted on the grounds that it was unintentional. The passenger, Dr. David Edson, was the son of former New York City mayor Franklin Edson.
A plaque was dedicated at the site on September 13, 1999, to commemorate this event, it reads:
Here at West 74th Street and Central Park West, Henry H. Bliss dismounted from a streetcar and was struck and knocked unconscious by an automobile on the evening of September 13, 1899. When Mr. Bliss, a New York real estate man, died the next morning from his injuries, he became the first recorded motor vehicle fatality in the Western Hemisphere. This sign was erected to remember Mr. Bliss on the centennial of his untimely death and to promote safety on our streets and highways.
Bliss’ death was the first recorded vehicle-related fatality in the Western Hemisphere. However, prior to his death, there were two such deaths in Europe. Bridget Driscoll was killed by a car in the grounds of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham in London in 1896, and Mary Ward was killed by a steam-powered car in Ireland in 1869.
Nowadays, more than 40,000 people die in vehicle crashes each year. According to a report by Transportation For America vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 5 and 34.
Many others die from the air pollution of cars annually. Most of those are people of color living in low income communities. Environmental justice expert, Dr. Robert Bullard calls this “drive-by pollution”.
The casualites of climate change from auto emissions have yet to be tallied.
Help us “Stop the Highway and Auto Assault!”
Tags: accident, automobiles, cars, new york, streetcar, T4A, Transit Riders for Public Transportation, Transportation for America, TRPT
One good thing from that accident: It was one of the things that led to “safety islands” in the street, where people could stand in the street on a spot protected from traffic while waiting for a streetcar.