UK First Fatal Accident

The first fatal car accident in the UK was caused by a driver going at 4 mph (6.5 kph).

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Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. So who was the UK's first fatal car accident victim - and what happened?

There were little more than a handful of petrol cars in Britain when labourer's wife Bridget Driscoll, 44, took a trip to the Crystal Palace, south-east London, on 17 August 1896.

"At the inquest, Florence Ashmore, a domestic servant, gave evidence that the car went at a 'tremendous pace', like a fire engine - 'as fast as a good horse could gallop'," it read.
"The driver, working for the Anglo-French Motor Co, said that he was doing 4mph when he killed Mrs Driscoll and that he had rung his bell and shouted."

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The car's maximum speed, the inquest heard, was 8mph but its speed had been deliberately limited.
Mrs Driscoll had hesitated in front of the car and seemed "bewildered" before being hit, the inquest heard.
The jury returned a verdict of "accidental death" after an inquest enduring some six hours, and no prosecution was made.

[source: BBC News]