The tragic story of a woman who became the first ever victim of an accident (5 photos)

Approximately 1.35 million people die each year in road accidents worldwide. of people. This is about 3700 tragedies a day, which in the end gives us the eighth line in the list of causes of human mortality.





Naturally, such a large number is due to the fact that cars have taken over the world. Every day they deliver on this or that billions of people for other purposes. However, at times when they began to come into fashion, they were used by a few lucky ones.



The roads were designed for pedestrians and horses, and the rules movement did not exist in nature. History has preserved the name of the first a person who died under the wheels of a car. It was a woman, and extraordinary. She was engaged in science at a time when, among representatives of her sex was completely unacceptable.

It is believed that the first car was built in 1769. French engineer Nicolas-Jose Cugno. Over the next century many enthusiasts built horseless carriages of their own structures powered by steam, electricity and gasoline. One of the representatives of this galaxy were members of the Parsons family, who developed the automotive direction of technological thought following "Patriarch of the clan", who built a wagon with a steam engine. close their relative was Mary Ward, whose sad fate, actually, and will be discussed.





Mary Ward

Mary was interested in science since childhood, which was real a feat for the first half of the 19th century. Back then it was believed that women can seriously claim success in this area of ​​human activities. But Mary Ward lived surrounded by the most famous scientists Great Britain, did not need money and could devote herself to which felt genuine interest.

At one point, she was just one of three women on the mailing list of the Royal Astronomical Society. In addition to her, they were an astronomer from the USA and no less than the queen Victoria.

In her youth, Mary was fond of observing nature, in connection with which received a microscope as a gift from her father - extremely expensive for those sometimes a thing. When she was 17 years old, she independently built the largest telescope in Ireland, although other accounts say it did her brother.

However, the further scientific career of Mary Ward did not work out. K 40 over the years, her financial situation has deteriorated greatly due to, frankly, unsuccessful marriage. She married an aristocrat who believed that a real nobleman should not bother himself with work. In addition to all the couple produced several offspring that needed to be fed, educate and provide.

In August 1869, Mary Ward, in the company of relatives went out of town to visit her cousin - on a family steam car. There were many people who wanted to ride, so they covered the car from all sides. parties, creating all the necessary preconditions for the first ever tragedy on this type of vehicle. What happened next, not quite clear.



Steam car from the 1860s, similar to the one that happened to the tragedy with Mary Ward

At some point, the car either turned too sharply, or jumped up on a bump, and Mary Ward flew under him. The wheel has passed the head of an unhappy woman. By the time the doctor arrived, she had not filed signs of life. According to rumors, a family of hereditary scientists later dismantled the killer car and buried it so that no one else could on it ride.

By the time of her death, Mary Ward was worn out by adversity. mother of many children trying to make ends meet. But if her life turned out differently, she could go down in history not as the first person, who fell victim to the car, but as a woman who contributed to science. Before how to dive into family problems, she published a book "Sketches under the microscope". It was a collection of drawings made after sessions of work with a magnifying device.

The cruel irony of fate is that after a few years after Mary's death, her husband inherited the peerage and, finally, got rich. Children ceased to need anything, and if it were not for stupid death under the wheels of a car, a woman could re-engage science.

If Mary Ward is almost certainly the first person killed in an accident involving a moving vehicle car, the first fatal accident of the "classic" type,that is associated with the collision of two independent entities, happened in 1896.



Bridget Driscoll (circled in photo)

Interestingly, the victim in this case was also a woman. Book Guinness World Records Reports That Someone Bridget Driscoll Has Been Hit a car moving at a speed of only about 7 kilometers per hour during demo ride time in London. immediate cause death here was also a traumatic brain injury.