Automobile Deaths

 

I thought it would be interesting to document deaths from automobile accidents as they evolved over time. A couple of patterns that I have noticed are 1) People going over embankments (and sometimes falling hundreds of feet) and 2) People being thrown from vehicles.

 

It might be useful to see if there is a pattern of people are going over embankments and if there is one particular place that appears to be the regular scene of these accidents. As far as people being thrown from vehicles, automobiles did not have seatbelts in them until the 1960s (I believe). Although vehicles in the 1920s did not go particularly fast, it doesn't take much force to throw someone out of a car. 

 

SH 19 Sept 2007

 

One interesting death I saw today was a death caused by a crash someone had while testing a Frontesca(?) Racing Car at Bridgeville Speedway in Bridgeville, PA. The driver lost control and ran into a wall, resulting in his death. How fast was the car going? A whopping 75 mph.

 

SH 19 Sept 2007

 

Now that I think of it, I come across many more deaths of pedestrians hit by cars that deaths from car accidents.  I do remember an instance where two people were killed in an accident because they ran into a tree.  I took note of this because it happened not too far from my apartment.  I will have to keep a closer eye on automobile accidents as the years progress.  I think they will become more frequent as more people begin to own cars. 

 

MG 19 Sept 2007

 

Yesterday I had a crash involving a fire truck responding to a call that went over an embankment. Two men died and eight more were injured. One of the men in the truck described the weather as very foggy and frosty and said the truck was going about 30mph when it crashed. The crash occurred in Stow Twp.

 

SH 27 Sept 2007

 

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1938

 

Case file 193807_111 contained an article about a priest that died in a car accident.  The article said that the priest recently acquired a car at the age of 81 due to poor health.  He refused free cars provided by his parish up to this point.  His reasoning for refusing the car was that there were parishioners at his church that were hungry and the money could be given to them instead.  He walked three miles round trip several times a week to visit friends at a nearby church.  Shortly after he was given the car, his driver got into an accident on 28.  The driver and the other passenger were fine, but the priest was badly hurt and eventually died.  

 

AL 19 Oct 2007

 

A 20 year-old "colored" man died at Sewickley Valley Hospital from a fractured skull, after the car he was riding in ran into a culvert. The driver survived. When the police came upon the scene they noted that the driver was intoxicated, and was thus charged with manslaughter by the Jury. This was the first documented case I came across of a drunk-driving accident.

 

2008 May 26 RLM

 

 

1939

 

Almost every single death I have seen that was a result of an automobile crash was because the driver went over an embankment.  This particular crash included a picture of the embankment, which helped give an idea of what the streets looked like back then. 

 

CL 19 Oct 2007

 

 

1940

 

Cases 194009_18-194009_19 involved two people who died because of burns in a fire following an auto accident – the car burst into flames after the accident.

 

BB Oct 31 2007

 

 

1953

 

A man was driving a freight truck on the Allegheny Bridge when he lost control of the vehicle. The truck crashed and broke the barrier (assuming the vehicle was cruising with great momentum), and the vehicle fell into the river. A scuba team recovered the driver's body. The man died of shock and suffocation. 195310_211

 

BG 22 Jan 2008

 

 

1954

 

Many of the deaths caused by automobile accidents involved pedestrians hit by automobiles. Most of the people killed in automobiles, though, seem to be younger drivers. Case files 195404_169-195404_171 tells the story of three teenagers who died when their car skidded in rainy weather and crashed into a utility pool. The driver, a 19-year-old boy, only had a learner's permit, and had been at a party for a friend on military leave earlier that evening.

 

LB 17 Jan 2008

 

 

1955

 

Three male students were in a car when it struck a culvert (a drain crossing under a road). Two of the three passengers died from fractured skulls. 195506_49-195506_50

 

LB 17 Jan 2008

 

 

1956

 

Case file 195602_209 describes a man who died of a fractured skull and internal injuries after being pinned between two stopped pick-up trucks struck from behind by a third.  A neighbor was towing the deceased's truck when the chain connecting them disconnected.  The man was between the trucks, attempting to fix it when his truck was hit from behind.  The file said the accident occurred on a straight stretch of road.  

 

TG 21 Jan 2008

 

 

1958

 

Two Carnegie Tech students, one former and one current died after the motorcycle that they were on went out of control and over an embankment in Schenley Park.  The driver of the motorcycle was a Navy Seaman Apprentice on leave from Great Lakes Navy Base in Illinois, and was believed to have been headed to Carnegie Tech when the accident occurred.  Earlier witnesses were quoted in accompanying newspaper clippings, stating that the motorcycle was traveling "at a high rate of speed."  The cause of death was listed as cerebral hemorrhage and shock from the impact.  195810_63-195810_64

 

MWB 28 Jan 2008

 

A 21-year-old man died of a fractured skull and crushed chest as a result of an auto accident.  The victim was "drag-racing" with another man and lost control of his car on a curve.  His car veered off into the grass parallel to the road and eventually struck and bent a metal pole.  This collision turned his car upside down and sent it careening diagonally back onto the road where it collided with another car.  At this time his body was thrown from the car.  This incident and a few others occurring in a single weekend prompted a Pennsylvania representative to propose a bill calling for the revocation of drivers licenses for "drag-racing" accidents.  I believe it called for licenses to be revoked for one year for the first offense, ten years for the second offense, and a permanent loss of their license if anyone was injured or killed in the accident.  195806_111

 

TG 29 Jan 2008

 

 

1959

 

There were three cases of teenagers who got into a head-on collision on a bridge. The two drivers and one of the passengers died; the coroner's jury suspected that the teens were playing a game of "chicken" with each other, which the surviving passengers insisted that they were not playing chicken. One of the case files (195909_75) had pictures of the two cars, demolished. 195909_74-195909_76

 

Another case involved the death of a 35-year-old stock-car racer who was killed during a race. It was a 150-lap course- he struck a guardrail on the 148th lap, which flipped his car over, exposing the roof toward the other racing cars. Another driver plowed into his car, and he died a few hours later from his injuries. This story has an ironic twist- the racer had promised his wife, who feared for his safety, that this would be his last race.  195910_97

 

LB 08 Feb 2008

 

 

1960

 

A 62-year-old mechanic was killed when a bus he was working on ran him over. He had been working in a grease pit underneath the bus, adjusting the brakes. Another mechanic got in the bus and sounded the horn; a signal that if anyone is working on the bus, they must shout to the driver not to pull out. No return signal was made by the mechanic. The driver started the bus and pulled out of the garage, he drove about 65 feet when he heard a scream from another mechanic who saw the body on the ground behind the bus. The deceased had been crush between the front axle of the bus and the front pit wall; he was dead on arrival to the hospital. 196005_58

 

AP 18 Feb 2008

 

Three African American men were killed when the car that they were traveling in slammed into an abutment on Route 51 west of the Sewickley Bridge.  According to the only eye-witness testimony, the car was traveling at a high rate of speed when the driver apparently lost control, sideswiped a car parked alongside the road in front of a tavern, and then traveled about 300 feet down the road where it struck a bridge which crossed Thorn Hill Run.  According to relatives, the men had had "a few beers" before going out for the night. The coroner at the time attributed the accident to "too much speed" and said the three men died of broken necks.  Road conditions at the time were described as dry, and the weather was clear.  196006_218-196006_220

 

MWB 13 Feb 2008

 

The following month an elderly man burned to death when the car he was driving ignited.  No witnesses were present until the car was mostly burned out and the body "burnt to a crisp," and the jury and coroner ruled the cause of death undetermined.  It was theorized by police, however, that the man, who was described by his wife as having a poor sense of direction, may have mistakenly put the car into reverse and gunned the engine. This action may have caused the car to fly backwards and strike the steel gate that it was found against, which may have ignited the gas tank by causing it to rupture.  The man was also described as being a chain smoker; the possibility of this fact being relevant to the case, however, is minimal at best since it was and still is to a degree popular for drivers to smoke in their automobiles.  196007_60

 

MWB 15 Feb 2008

 

A 4-year-old boy was struck and killed by an automobile while walking about two feet off a roadway.  The boy was walking with his older brother and one of his friends, who were on the other side of the street at the time of the accident.  When struck, the boy's body landed on the front left fender of the automobile, was carried 60 feet, then thrown 24 feet through the air when the car struck a guard rail off the side of the road, and slid for another 20 feet before finally stopping.  The car was traveling between 50 and 60 miles an hour.  The boy's shoes were found close to the point of impact.  One was about four feet away from this point and the other about eight feet.  196009_167

 

TG 15 Feb 2008

 

A drunk driver who was zigzagging across the road, swerved to miss another car, and lost control of the car struck a 15-year-old girl. The deceased was walking with a group of eight other people when she and another girl were hit. She died of a brain injury and multiple fractures, but the other girl survived. The driver then took off, and was later arrested and charged with manslaughter. 196012_174

 

LB 18 Feb 2008

 

 

1961

 

In September of this year, a 21-year-old man was the only fatality in a nine-car accident.  The sports car the man was a passenger in was crushed by a tractor-trailer with non-responsive brakes.  The man's sister, who was driving him to work, had just pulled onto the parkway when the tractor-trailer rolled over the car.  196109_17

 

TG 22 Feb 2008

 

A 27-year-old man died of a fractured skull and lacerations of the brain in an auto accident.  While passing traffic in the left lane, the victim's car sideswiped another, hooking onto its front bumper and dragging it to the center of the highway.  The victim's car then broke free and crossed the highway, colliding with a telephone pole.  All three passengers were thrown from the car, a convertible, upon impact with the pole.  The car spun around three full times before coming to rest.  196109_32

 

TG 22 Feb 2008

 

 

1962

 

A woman was driving in her car with her son on the Parkway East near the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. A tractor-trailer went out of control and ran the car over, killing her and injuring her son. The truck driver was on a suspended license and had had his license suspended seven times before that. A letter from a representative of the Teamsters said that because the truck driver was not a Teamster, and therefore wasn't paid as well, he had to risk driving with a suspended license to make enough money. The reason the truck went out of control was because there was something wrong with it mechanically. The jury recommended that the people who gave the truck a passing inspection status be convicted of manslaughter in addition to the driver. A newspaper article said that a jury did not find the mechanic who did the inspection guilty, even though he had previously passed another car that had killed two people from leaking fumes. 196209_26

 

BF 02 Mar 2008 

 

On North Branch Road near Oakdale, an auto accident occurred involving a 22-year-old male suffering from concussion of the brain and hemorrhage into the spleen following contusion of the head and body. His automobile collided into a stone quarry during a drag race involving two other automobiles. The two other men were accountable for involuntary manslaughter. This seemed unusual, and might need a qualification of what involuntary manslaughter consists of.  The two other men were racing, but the collision had no effect or pushes involvement with the other car hitting the quarry. 196211_090

 

BG 03 Mar 2008

 

 

1963

 

In July of this year, I discovered a set of case files from an auto accident involving no less than four cars and a bus that occurred on the Parkway East near the Bates Street interchange.  Apparently, two steelworkers who had been drinking for hours were on their way to Hazelwood from the North Side to continue their imbibing, when their vehicle sideswiped one car and hit another before crossing the median and hitting a Pittsburgh Railways bus before ramming into a car with a family of four inside and basically cutting it in half.  The car with the family in it, as well as the bus somehow hit each other as well and burst into flame, killing the entire family.  There were no passengers on the bus at the time, thus preventing an even worse tragedy from occurring.  One of the steelworkers was also killed in addition to another victim. 196307_189-196307_194

 

MWB 06 Mar 2008

 

A terrible accident occurred on a bridge. It started when a white man in one car supposedly yelled racial epithets at four black men in another car as he was driving by. They began to race the white man, driving on the wrong side of the road. While they were on the bridge another car came in the opposite direction. That car stopped, while the car with the four men in it collided into the neutral car. One of the lack men got out of the car, which then burst into flames, killing the other three instead. The driver of the neutral car was not hurt, while the  car the men were racing fled the scene. 196310_16-196310_18

 

LB 07 Mar 2008

 

 

1964

 

In February of this year, a 32-year-old white male died of shock and hemorrhage after his chest and pelvis were crushed between two automobiles.  The victim was standing in the parking lot of an auto repair garage, talking to one of the employees, when he was struck and carried 48 feet on the fender of another customer's car, which ultimately collided with another parked car.  The driver of this car had just had his vehicle inspected by the mechanics at the garage and it was said to be in good mechanical order.  However, as he was leaving the lot, the accelerator on his car became stuck and he was unable to slow down or stop before hitting the deceased.  According to the newspaper article accompanying the file, this was the fourth time in less than two years that a coroner's jury had specifically blamed careless inspection for a fatal accident.  Mechanics were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the other three incidents, but there were no indictments.    196402_74

 

TG 10 Mar 2008

 

In April of this year, a 72-year-old white female died from intracranial subdural and pontine hemorrhage following contusions and lacerations of her face when her coat got caught in a car door and she was dragged on the ground.  The woman had just gotten out of the car, which was being operated by her daughter, who stopped to let her mother out while she parked.  The daughter recalls her mother slamming the door shut as she usually did and then began to pull away while looking to her left for oncoming traffic.  She said that she heard a strange thud as she drove away and did not stop for about 50 feet.  She believed her memory of the incident was distorted by the trauma of losing her mother, and could not explain why she stopped the car or stepped out of it.  She admitted it was likely that someone was shouting at her, but could not say for sure. 196404_58

 

TG 11 Mar 2008

 

In June of this year, a 12-year-old drove a car into a flight of steps on a bridge, killing both him and his 35-year-old passenger. There was really no clear explanation for why a 12-year-old was driving a 35-year-old, but the blood alcohol level of the passenger was somewhat high. Perhaps the 12-year-old was acting as the designated driver. The addition of the blood alcohol levels into these files really helps in explaining things! 196406_94-196406_95

 

BF 11 Mar 2008

 

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1973

 

A 13-year-old white girl is crushed by a school bus. She and a friend were pushing and shoving each other as the bus was approaching; she fell under the bus or she was pushed under the bus. The death was ruled an accident. 197309_185

 

 

 

AP 25 April 08

 

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