I was looking for the answer to this question. It brought me here, but the closest question was [closed]. The most that I am aware of was when driver Pierre Levegh's race car killed 83 spectators at Le Mans: June 11th, 1955. Was wondering if this was the most or if there might be more. There were 84 deaths in all, including the driver. Technically it could be considered a 2-car accident, as his car launched off of another car. Maybe question should be 2-car accident?
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3If my question is not of the type needed or wanted here, let me know please. I'm new here and found your site through luck. Nowhere else have I found the answer. It is part of history. Anyhow, not sure if I start out on this site with a minus 1 or not, but I would like to stick around. Having a minus within two minutes of posting, without feedback, is not very encouraging he he, but I'll learn. Suggestions on how to post question in a better manner would be appreciated. Thanks all. Just visiting, but I do love history– Jim CCommented Aug 8, 2013 at 22:53
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1welcome to the site, your question could look like a pub quiz trivia question, to some here. also, the 1955 Le Mans crash sounds more like a sports event disaster than a "car accident". but you're right, a -1 the minute you start isn't welcoming and i withdraw it. embarrassed.– Tea DrinkerCommented Aug 8, 2013 at 23:01
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1A note on why you are looking for this will help in preventing the impression that you are just here for trivia.– Pieter GeerkensCommented Aug 9, 2013 at 2:10
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1Wikipedia is notorious for being edited in large part by socially challenged people lacking circumspection and compassion. Even so, they do not appear to have a listing in which vehicle accidents are ranked by number of fatalities. Perhaps this absence is not coincidental, after all? Regardless, this accident was pretty bad and well may have been the worst ever.– Eugene SeidelCommented Aug 9, 2013 at 12:10
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1-1 - who cares? Trivia.– user2590Commented Jan 10, 2014 at 19:43
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6 Answers
The deadliest road accident not caused by an explosion that I could find took place in Sotouboua, Togo in 1965, where two trucks crashed into a crowd of dancers, killing 125 people. While this is widely reported on many "Deadliest Road Accident" lists (such as this one) the only contemporary source that I could find for it is the 1965 edition of Africa Diary (an Indian publication), which quotes:
(Standard Tanzania, Dar es Salaam) TOGO Trucks Kill 100 At Village Carnival. Two trucks that careened through a carnival crowd in the Togolese village of Sotouboua killed more than 100 persons and injured 100 others, the police reported on Dec. 6. The dead included an American Peace Corps worker, identified as James Driscoll of Buffalo, N.Y. [...]
Update: actually, searching Google Newspaper Archive for "James Driscoll" Sotouboua returns more reports.
Single real road accident of a vehicle(truck) which caused highest deaths was near nagbavji in desuri ki nal Rajsthan in India on 8 sept 2007.This truck was carrying 150 pilgrimage to Ramdevji temple.In this accident truck plunged into 84 feet deep george.84 people died onthe spot.64 injured. In other high casualties of road accidents it is due to fire or othe no traffic reasons.. but in this case all casualties were purly due to road accident not due to subsequent other reasons. so it is the most death toll accident.
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3Hi, welcome to History Stack exchange. To make your answer a good one, 1. provide some links. 2. Also provide evidence that other accidents had lesser number of deaths. (links again). After all, in India there are too many such accidents involving marriage parties or pilgrims. Way too common. Note: I'm not refuting your answer, just prompting you to improve it.– RajibCommented Jan 4, 2015 at 17:33
As gleaned from my research, it seems that the road accident with the highest death toll in history was the Salang Tunnel fire, having occurred on November 3rd, 1982. Here is the link for the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salang_tunnel_fire. If the Soviet bulletin is to be believed (giving the one who posed the initial question the deference in this instance), than the undesirable title of deadliest road accident ever is ceded to the Los Alfaques disaster; link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Alfaques_Disaster
Consider the ruthless profiteer John D. Rockefeller's epigram: "I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity." I suppose in an infecund way you did :)
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1However, since both these disasters were caused by exploding tankers, I would not call them car accidents. Commented Jan 10, 2014 at 8:28
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1@LennartRegebro using that logic, a car crashing into a train, causing it to derail with 300 dead on the train is a car accident or a train accident? Hypothetical, but set your definition...– jwentingCommented Jan 10, 2014 at 12:47
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1@jwenting It would be both. But both examples in this case are cases of petrol/gas explosions. It's just that the tank exploding happens to be located on a truck. Calling those a "single car accident" is really stretching it. Commented Jan 10, 2014 at 13:09
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1@LennartRegebro if the truck is standing still (or nearly so) and rear ended by the car, it's no different from the car crashing into any other above ground fuel tank.– jwentingCommented Jan 14, 2014 at 14:26
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1@jwenting The Los Alfaques Disaster is because the tank sprung a leak. That is not a car accident in any reasonable sense. Although information about the Salang fire is scarce, the reports that claim a large number of deaths claims a tanker exploded. This could theoretically have been from a single truck crash, of course, but could equally well have been for a number of other reasons. Some claims are that a military vehicle crashed into a fuel truck, in which case it is not a single vehicle accident. Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 15:08
In the US, a truck filled with migrant workers ran off the road, hit a tree, and burst into flames in Phoenix, Arizona, in about 1960. 21 people were killed. At that time it was the worst 1-vehicle accident in the history of the history of the US, and well might still be.
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2Please provide a source for your claim, so that we can find out more information and verify the details.– GwenCommented Oct 19, 2015 at 1:55
According to the National Safety Council, the worst single auto accident in U.S. history occurred on July 31, 1954 when 11 people died in a single car crash on Pine Mountain, eight miles south of Whitesburg, KY. There were 12 people in the vehicle, only one survived. The victims included three adults, a teenage girl and seven small children. Thomas Brown had purchased the 13 year old car, a 1941 Buick, the day before the accident. The car's brakes failed at the top of Pine Mountain and crashed into a cliff, overturned and caught fire. Hexie Maxie, the only survivor of the crash, was severely burned over most of his body and spent months in the hospital. He spent years grieving the loss of his family. Maxie died in 1982..
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There is also the 1955 Le Mans disaster. 83 spectators were killed and 180 injured when the Mercedes 300 SLR of Pierre Levegh flew out of control near the pits, and major parts of the Mercedes like the engine and rear axle, sliced into a large crowd that had gathered near the pits.
A good deal of the fatalities resulted from poor crowd control... allowing spectators near the track where an out of control car could hit them.
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