100 Years Of Traffic Fatalities
Monday is the 100th anniversary of the first traffic fatality.
On September 13th, 1899, H.H. Bliss, a New York real estate broker, exited a trolley car at 74th Street and Central Park West. While helping to assist a woman out of the trolley, he was run over by a passing electric automobile, driven by the chauffeur of a prominent doctor. The doctor provided immediate medical attention, but Bliss died at the hospital.
This could have been just a footnote of history, except that Howard Grafftey, Executive Director of the Safety Sense Institute commemorated the anniversary with "a call for action" at the site of the accident on Monday.
Grafftey, accompanied by Bliss' grand-daughter, Linda Bliss Salisbury, and other Bliss descendents, hosted a ceremony to raise awareness about what he calls the "epidemic" of unintentional injuries.
"Death from trauma is the number three killer of our people and little is being done to combat this senseless slaughter," he said. "The motor vehicle is now the number one killer of our people under the age of 40.
Grafftey, also known as "the Canadian Ralph Nader," has dedicated his life to his crusade.
He points out that in North America, two people die every ten minutes from unintentional injuries, and 390 are disabled.
Some of the initiatives he proposes are:
- Automobiles must be made safer
- Safety inspections must be more frequent and strict
- Roads must be engineered to be safer
- Unsafe intersections must be eliminated
- Zero tolerance laws for drinking and driving
- Graduated licensing for young drivers
Grafftey is a former Canadian Member of Parliament.