Of course, at some point in time; the first fatal auto accident occurred.

Of note perhaps, is that not 1 person died, but 5.

Also, this occurred not as a result of a single, pioneering trip in an unproven claptrap,

but 'just another' run in a regular journey.

Guess the year (within a 10-yr range if you must).

1902

1908

Actually London claims to have the first auto accident with the driver's death in 1899 or something. There is also a plaque by the street. That is why the question confused me.

The first auto accident (non-fatal) occured in 1891 according to this site, in Ohio (of course--so many 1sts have happened in Ohio)..

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2596

Haven't turned up the first fatal, but I bet it was before 1900 also.

'You have all overbid' -Bob Barker

Best Bob Barker-related quote: Happy Gilmore: [to Bob Barker] The price is wrong, bitch.

No more takers ??

According to research published in the SAH journal, the first fatal vehicle accident occurred on July 29th. {Tee-hee- I still left off the year!}

There was an established line of steam coaches traveling regularly (for 4 months at this time) between Glasgow & Paisley. Apparently, for reasons unexplained, officials at the Glasgow end put a thick coating of loose stones on the road in order to cause an obstruction. This was done repeatedly, and by mention, assumedly was instrumental in causing one of the wheels to break. The carriage nearly overturned, and the weight of the entire vehicle came to rest on the boiler and caused it to burst, killing 5 passengers.

And the year was . . . . 1834. I would have guessed 1870s just because of the point of the question, but '34 is amazingly far back.