18-Wheeler Destroys Amish Buggy On Tennessee Highway — Everyone Survives

One Amish family is counting their blessings after an 18-wheeler hit their buggy on a four-lane highway. This is from the Amish community at Ethridge, Tennessee.

WSMV reports on the story – which appears to have been sourced from Lawrence County executive David Morgan, who shared the family’s plight on Facebook yesterday (August 4th). Morgan writes:

I need someone with a horse trailer to help an Amish family out who had an accident on 64 bypass and Robertson road.

Their buggy was destroyed by an 18 wheeler – thankfully they survived but we are trying to get their horse home.

There are no details about injuries, and we can see in the photo the figures of an Amish woman and man who appear to be picking things up from around the wrecked buggy.

So I’m going to assume that with that photo and given that there is no mention of injuries, that this family had a really fortunate outcome. Did they escape mostly unscathed? It looks like that, or close to it. That’s definitely not always the case when Amish buggies meet tractor trailers.

And when you look at the buggy, it appears it must have been a glancing blow – much of the buggy’s body is still intact, unlike in a lot of bad wrecks, including those with semis, which do much more visible destruction. Here’s another photo showing the buggy after it has been moved off to the side of the road.

Not only that, but the request for help to get the horse home also suggests that it made it through alright. To that, Morgan later gives an update: “Horse is being picked up soon – thank you to everyone who reached out.”

One other detail – you can notice the PVC pipe visibility solution used by Amish in this very conservative community, visible on the rear buggy wheel. It’s essentially two roughly six-inch pieces of PVC pipe attached to the wheel, which reflect car light and create a flickering effect as the buggy is moving.

That really wouldn’t come into play so much in the daytime, which is when this appears to have happened. As we see in these photos, 64 Bypass where the wreck occurred is a divided highway. As in other communities, some Amish living here need to use the area’s busier roads at times. It’s not ideal, and dealing with these more dangerous roads is a particular point of focus in some places.

All in all I’m glad to share this looks like a case where everyone made out alright, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they are going to be a little nervous next time they need to travel on that highway.

Get the Amish in your inbox

Join 15,000 email subscribers. No spam. 100% free

 

 

 

Subscribe