Today is a rather dark day in automotive history. This day in 1899, Henry H. Bliss became the first person in America to be killed in a motor vehicle. Bliss walked out of a streetcar in New York City when a taxicab ran into him. The taxi was electric-powered but powerful enough to crush his head and chest, knocking him unconscious instantly. Henry passed the following morning and thus began the case for increased pedestrian safety in cars.
Well, sort of. It has taken a whole century for a lot of basic pedestrian safety design features to become part of regulation.
