01/09/2021
A HISTORICAL REMINDER
RoadPeace have reminded us that it is 125 years since the very first death was caused by a driver –
in Crystal Palace, London.
Because the cause of her death was so unique, her death received
extensive publicity. The inquest concluded just a week after her death
with an "Accidental Death" verdict, returned by the jury, and this
again was reported in national and local papers.
The death of Bridget Driscoll (c. 1851 – 17
August 1896) was the first recorded case of a
pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor
car in the United Kingdom. As 44-year-old
Driscoll, with her teenage daughter May and
her friend Elizabeth Murphy, crossed Dolphin
Terrace in the grounds of the Crystal Palace
in London, Driscoll was struck by a car
belonging to the Anglo-French Motor Carriage
Company that was being used to give
demonstration rides. One witness described
the car as travelling at "a reckless pace, in
fact, like a fire engine".
Although the car's maximum speed was 8
miles per hour (13 km/h) it had been limited
deliberately to 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h),
the speed at which the driver, Arthur James
Edsall of Upper
Norwood,
claimed to have
been travelling.
His passenger,
Alice Standing of
Forest Hill, alleged he modified the engine to
allow the car to go faster, but another
taxicab driver examined the car and said it
was incapable of exceeding 4.5 miles per
hour (7.2 km/h) because of a low-speed
engine belt. The accident happened just a
few weeks after a new Act of Parliament had
increased the speed limit for cars to 14 miles
per hour (23 km/h), from 2 miles per hour in
towns and 4 miles per hour in the
countryside.
The jury returned a verdict of "accidental death" after an inquest lasting some six hours. The
coroner said he hoped "such a thing would never happen again.
