The First Ever Vehicle Fatalities
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Written by Chris
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The first fatality in a steam-driven vehicle may have been Mary Ward who on 31 August 1869 fell under a steam car in Ireland.
In the UK, the first person to die in a petrol-driven car collision was
a pedestrian, Bridget Driscoll, in 1896.
The first driver/passenger
deaths occurred on 25 February 1899. A 6 HP Daimler, driven by
31-year-old engineer Edwin Sewell, crashed on Grove Hill, a steeply
graded road on the northern slope of Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, now
in north-west London. A rear wheel collapsed after breaking its rim and
the car hit a sturdy brick wall. Sewell was killed immediately when he
and his passenger, a Major Richer, were thrown from the vehicle. Richer
died 3 days later in hospital. The spot is now marked with a
commemorative plaque.
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