Automotive Firsts

At DefensiveDriving.com we love all things car and driving related.  So we have assembled this list, for fun, over time.  We want to share it with all of our readers who love automotive trivia as much as we do!  The sources for this list are varied, and we welcome all corrections and comments.

• In 1771 the first accident involving a motor vehicle took place in Paris when Cugnot’s steam tractor hit a low wall in the grounds of the Paris arsenal.

• On August 31, 1869, Mary Ward became the first recorded victim of a steam-powered automobile accident.

• The world’s first automobile accident occurred in Ohio City, Ohio in 1891.

• The French police issued the world’s first car number plates in 1893.

• First American car race:  Chicago, in 1895.  Average speed:  7.5 mph.

• The first used car lot in America opened in 1897 with 17 cars.

• On September 13, 1899, Henry Bliss became North America’s first motor vehicle fatality when hit while stepping off a New York City trolley.

• The first state to require license plates on cars was New York, in 1901.

• The world’s first speeding ticket was issued in Dayton, Ohio in 1904.

• The first reported car theft in America took place in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1905.

• The first gas pump was installed in America in 1906.

• The world’s first mile of paved concrete highway (1909) is Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, between Seven & Eight Mile.

• The world’s first traffic lights were installed in Detroit, USA in 1919.

• The first car to offer seatbelts was the 1950 Nash Rambler.

If you have any firsts you’d like added to our list, let us know.  If we can verify them, we’ll add them!