Anniversary of first U.S. traffic fatality

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Thursday, September 13th marked a dubious anniversary for the automobile industry. As the Bureau’s report states, when Henry Bliss stepped off a streetcar at Central Park West and 74th Street in New York, he didn’t look, and was hit by an electric taxi driven by Arthur Smith. The year was 1899 and the accident was the first fatality in the U.S. involving an automobile. At the time, there were fewer than 8,000 cars in the whole country.