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You could call H.H. Bliss a pioneer. No, he didn’t cross the Mississippi in a covered wagon. And he didn’t break any longstanding racial barriers. And, for that matter, he didn’t manage to revolutionize the fields of science, medicine or sport. On September 14, 1899 the 68-year-old New York City real estate broker was helping a woman off a streetcar when a cabdriver cut a corner a little too tightly and ran him over.  

Bliss became the first of over 5 million Americans to be killed by an automobile (and the first of quite a few dispatched by New York City cabbies).  

With this grim anniversary in mind, a number of international anti-automobile organizations have declared September Car-Free Month, and today as Car-Free Day. 

“Whenever you get into a car, you risk other people’s lives,” points out long-time Berkeley bicycle activist Jason Meggs. “(Automobiles) do afford us fun, convenience and mobility, but they also steal fun, convenience and mobility. Traffic jams don’t happen in well-designed train systems, only in poorly designed car-only systems.” 

Now, no one’s heading down from Capitol Hill to forcefully wrest away your car (or gun, if you’re concerned about that too). But on Tuesday the city of Berkeley did unanimously approve a resolution declaring September Car-Free Month.  

“Housing and traffic are probably the two most frequent things I’ve heard people talking about in the last year or two,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who submitted the resolution. “So anything we can do to promote public transit, bicycling or any other way to get around that isn’t by automobile is a helpful step forward.” 

With the demise of the unfortunate Mr. Bliss as a framing point – and the fact that September is a month that hasn’t yet had a cause attached to it – anti-automobile activists have spent the past 20-odd days pointing out some of the remarkable statistics attached to a century of automobile usage.  

“There have been more than four times as many people killed in car crashes than in all the wars America has fought since 1776,” says Meggs. Actually, he’s a little off with his numbers – in reality, five times as many people have been killed in crashes rather than in battle. According to Meggs, however, automobiles don’t have to kill you to reduce your quality of life. 

“As a general rule, people keep their kids indoors because they’re scared of cars,” continues Meggs. “The New York Times reported that 30 years ago, two-thirds of kids walked or biked to school. Today fewer than 10 percent do. Essentially, in our car-overrun cities, problems with danger, noise and pollution really destroy the fabric of our communities. Studies show that as motor car traffic increases on residential streets, the number of people who have best friends or acquaintances on the street plummets toward zero.” 

With the spotlight of Car-Free Month – Car-Free Day – coming today, a number of anti-automobile activists plan to hit the streets. 

A number of them will joint the protests at the National Broadcasters’ Convention in San Francisco to protest the pressure exerted on the broadcast media by auto and petroleum interests.  

Meggs points out that today is “a day for direct action,” meaning that more than a few motorists – perhaps even the descendants of H.H. Bliss, ironically enough – may find themselves with impromptu front-row seats to whatever traffic-stalling demonstrations the activists have planned.