This list of traffic collisions records serious road crashes: those that have a large death toll, occurred in unusual circumstances, or have some other historical significance. For crashes that killed notable people, refer to List of people who died in traffic collisions. The prevalence of bus crashes in this list is a function of severity rather than of frequency. This list records crashes up to the year 1999. For later crashes see: List of traffic collisions (2000–present).
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Notable historic road crashes 1950s: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970s: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990s: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 See also — References — External links
1700s
1771 – France – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's second steam-powered vehicle is said to have crashed into a wall during a test run, in what would have been the first automobile crash. However, it is disputed that this ever happened. According to Georges Ageon, the earliest mention of this occurrence dates from 1801 and it does not feature in contemporary accounts.
1800s July 1834 – Scotland – A steam carriage constructed by John Scott Russell, which was operating a public transport service between Glasgow and Paisley, overturned after hitting an obstruction in the road. This caused a boiler explosion which killed five passengers and injured others. Russell's carriage comprised a self-propelling steam engine pulling a combined passenger and fuel tender. August 31, 1869 – Ireland – While riding as a passenger with relatives in an experimental steam car, Mary Ward was thrown from the car and fell under the wheels as it rounded a bend. Her death may be characterized as the first fatality involving a vehicle in the form of a contemporary motorcar, in which the engine is mounted and passengers ride on the same frame. It took place in the town of Birr, which was known at that time as Parsonstown. The car was built by her cousins, the sons of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse. 1891 – United States – John William Lambert was involved in the first recorded automobile crash in American history. The crash occurred in Ohio City, Ohio. The vehicle was the first American single-cylinder gasoline automobile, known as the Buckeye gasoline buggy or the Lambert gasoline buggy, and was made in Ohio in 1891. It was carrying Lambert and James Swoveland when it hit a tree root, causing the car to careen out of control and crash into a hitching post. Injuries were minor. August 17, 1896 – United Kingdom – Death of Bridget Driscoll. Bridget Driscoll was the first person to die in a petrol-engined car crash, and the first pedestrian victim of an automobile crash in the United Kingdom. As she crossed the grounds of The Crystal Palace in London, she was struck by an automobile belonging to the Anglo-French Motor Carriage Company that was being used to give demonstration rides. February 25, 1899 – United Kingdom – Edwin Sewell and Major Richer were thrown from their vehicle on Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, and killed. Sewell's death is the first recorded fatality of a driver. September 13, 1899 – United States – Henry H. Bliss was the first person killed by a car in the United States. He was struck by an electric-powered taxicab while exiting the 8th Avenue trolley on West 74th Street and Central Park West in New York City.
1900s July 12, 1906 – United Kingdom – Handcross Hill bus crash. A bus full of people from Orpington and St Mary Cray was travelling to Brighton for a day trip when the gearbox shattered and the bus ran into a tree near Handcross, killing 10 and injuring 26.
1920s June 10, 1925 – United Kingdom – Dibbles Bridge coach crash. A tour coach ran away following brake failure and fell off a bridge near Hebden, North Yorkshire whilst en route to Bolton Abbey, killing seven passengers.
1930s August 29, 1935 – Belgium – Queen Astrid of Belgium is killed in a car crash in Küssnacht am Rigi, near Lake Lucerne, Schwyz, Switzerland. She was riding in a Packard One-Twenty driven by her husband King Leopold III when it went off the road and crashed into a pear tree. March 25, 1937 – United States – A bus carrying a roller derby team crashed just west of Salem, Illinois, killing 21 of the 23 people on the bus. April 4, 1939 – Iraq – King Ghazi of Iraq is killed in a car crash in Baghdad.
1940s October 1941 – United Kingdom – A Royal Air Force bus crashes into a lorry and catches fire near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, killing 9 airmen and injuring 13. June 1944 – United Kingdom – A British Army lorry crashes into a house in Burley in Wharfedale, Yorkshire, killing 19 soldiers."Twenty-three Cadets Killed by Bus at Chatham", The Times, December 5, 1951 October 1944 – United Kingdom – A United States Army bus collides with a lorry near Marlborough, Wiltshire, killing 10 soldiers and injuring 21. August 1946 – United States – 2 cars collided head-on on U.S. Route 30, 27 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon, killing 5 people and injuring 2. October 1947 – United Kingdom – A bus crashes into a building in Holmfirth, Yorkshire, killing 9 people. January 1948 – United Kingdom – A bus skidded into a bus queue in Bargeddie, near Glasgow, Scotland, killing eight people and injuring 12. November 24, 1948 – Sweden – A trolleybus on line 96 collided with a truck, which loaded with concrete slabs that were heading in the opposite direction. The bus drove off Essingebron in Stockholm and 11 people died.
1950s 1950 February 11 – Japan – A Takase-Kumamoto Kyūshū Sanko regular route bus plunges into a pond below at Matsuo, Kumamoto, Kyūshū, killing 22 people and injuring 18.National Police Agency of Japan May – United Kingdom – A bus and a tram collide in Glasgow, killing eight people and injuring 43. November 7 – Japan – A regular route bus plunges into the Mononobe river, Mirabu, eastern Kōchi Prefecture, Shikoku, killing 33 people and injuring 24.
1951 July 15 – Japan – A Shimokawai-Chubutenryu regular route bus plunges off the Harada bridge, Tenryū River, Urakawa, Hokkaidō, northwestern Shizuoka Prefecture, killing 24. December 4 – United Kingdom – Gillingham bus disaster. During an evening march in a badly-lit area, a double-decker bus struck a company of fifty-two young members of the Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps, aged between ten and thirteen years. 24 cadets were killed and 18 injured; at the time it was the greatest loss of life of any road crash in British history. The crash was ruled accidental.
1954 September 29 – Netherlands – The brakes and gear box of a Belgian tourist bus fail on the downhill slope of the Cauberg, near Valkenburg aan de Geul, hitting a pedestrian, then a monument and a building. 19 people were killed. November 12 – Réunion – The brakes of a bus failed on the downhill slope of Plateau-Caillou in Saint-Paul. 54 people were killed.
1955 September 30 – United States - Death of James Dean. The death of Hollywood actor James Dean occurred near Cholame, California. Dean had previously competed in several auto racing events, and was traveling to a sports car racing competition when his Porsche 550 Spyder collided with another car at the junction of California State Route 46 (former 466) and California State Route 41. He was 24 years old.
1957 April 27 – Soviet Union – 33 people were killed when a bus collided with a train in Chelyabinsk Oblast. June 6 – United States – An early morning collision occurred north of Fayetteville, North Carolina, where a flat bed truck packed with migrant workers pulled in front of a tractor-trailer hauling potatoes. It killed 21 people. At the time, it is the worst traffic fatality accident in U.S. history. November 10 – 1957 Saint-Paul bus accident – The brakes of a bus ruptured on an incline, causing 27 deaths.
1958 February 28 – United States – Prestonsburg, Kentucky, bus crash. A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hit a wrecker truck on US 23 and plunged down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork River. The driver and 26 children died in the worst school bus crash in U.S. history. December 22 – Greece – A suburban bus from Ioannina to Chouliarades carrying 34 people failed to complete a manoeuvre on the steep road near the village of Petrovouni, Ioannina. It subsequently fell down the 350m slope to Arachthos gorge, killing 29 people, seven of whom were minors.
1959 June 20 – West Germany – Lauffen bus crash. A crowded bus collided with a train on a level crossing in Lauffen am Neckar, killing 45 people. It was the worst bus crash in German history. September 10 – United States – A school bus stalled on railroad tracks in Oakland, Maryland, was hit by a train, killing seven children and injuring 11.
1960s 1960 July 24 – Japan – A charter bus collides with a regular route bus, the charter bus plunging into a valley along the toll road of Mount Hiei, Ōtsu, Shiga, killing 30 people and injuring another 18. September 14 – Greece – A truck struck a suburban bus which subsequently crashed into an olive tree between Athens and Corinth, killing 11 people. November 29 – Canada – 17 high schoolers from the town of Chipman, Alberta died after a school bus was hit by a train near Lamont, Alberta. An additional 25 people were injured.
1961 December 14 – United States – 20 schoolchildren were killed in a bus-train collision in Evans, Colorado. The bus driver had stopped at the rural track but did not see or hear the train arriving. The bus had almost passed over the track when it was struck.
1962 June 11 – Argentina – Villa Soldati level crossing tragedy. A train struck a municipal bus in Buenos Aires whilst it was carrying school children to kindergarten. Forty-two children were killed and 83 were injured.
1963 February 7 – New Zealand – Brynderwyn bus accident. A bus in Northland Region leaves the road after brake failure and rolls down a valley, killing 15 people, and becomes the worst road crash in New Zealand history up to that time. April 7 – Kenya – A bus returning from a church meeting plunged into the Tiva River, Mitaboni, Machakos, killing at least 72 people."72 Africans Die In Crash of Bus", UPI report in Shreveport (LA) Times, April 9, 1963, p. 4 May 18 – United States – A bus carrying 42 migrant agricultural workers crashed into a canal in Belle Glade, Florida, killing 27 people.Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, FL) May 19, 1963 June 10 – United States – An open truck carrying 49 Boy Scouts and leaders stalls while climbing a hill en route to Hole in the Rock, Utah. It loses its brakes and plunges into Carcass Wash, killing 13 people. September 17 – United States – Chualar bus crash. In the worst auto accident in U.S. history, a train hit a flatbed truck used as a bus at a rail crossing in Chualar, California, killing 32 people and injuring 25.
1965 January 1 – Peru – A Huancayo-Ayacucho regular route bus plunges into a ravine of the Mantaro River, killing 31 people.The Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania via AP; January 4, 1965; p. 2 (available through newspaperarchive.com)) January 10 – Mexico – A bus carrying soccer players and their families plunges into a ravine on the outskirts of Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, killing 19 people and injuring 22.Notimex news agency February 3 – Mexico – A regular route bus plunges off a cliff along the Mexico-Ciudad Juárez expressway on the outskirts of Zacatecas, killing 25 people and injuring 40.Televisa news report February 10 – Egypt – A truck carrying 66 people plunged into a canal on the outskirts of El Ayyat, killing 36 people. The truck driver is arrested on suspicion of driving without a license.Cumberland Evening Times (Maryland) via UP; February 11, 1965; p. 2 (available at newspaperarchive.com)