Systematic recording of traffic accidents in London began in 1865. Unpublished Home Office statistics in the Public Record Office, supplemented by printed Parliamentary Papers, provide details of the incidence and type of accident, and of the categories of vehicle on London’s streets in the period 1865 – 1881.

Street fatalities in London in the 1860s averaged about 4.3 per 100,000 of population. Compared with today, a much higher proportion of victims were pedestrians, and although accidents were far less frequent, they were much more likely to be fatal.

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