Amish Man, 74, Sent to Hospital After Camaro Slams Into His Buggy — Alcohol Suspected
Alcohol use is in the picture, yet again, in another Amish buggy crash. Fortunately, this one was not fatal, like others have been.
The buggy crash victim is a 74-year-old Amish man from the Harmony, Minnesota community, the state’s largest. Here’s more on the Saturday crash from the Post Bulletin report:
LANESBORO, Minn. — One person was injured after a vehicle and a horse-drawn buggy collided in Fillmore County on Saturday, according to a crash report from the Minnesota State Patrol.
The horse-drawn buggy and a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro were westbound on Highway 16 at Sheridan Street West in Lanesboro when they collided around 6:15 p.m. Saturday, July 11.
The driver of the Camaro, a 76-year-old Lanesboro man, was not injured in the crash. The State Patrol report says alcohol is suspected in the crash by the Camaro driver.
As for the buggy driver, the Winona Journal reports that “Harvey J Hershberger, age 74, was taken 24 miles to a Rochester hospital. His injuries were described as sustainable.”
I have not seen the word “sustainable” much used to describe injuries, but perhaps that means “non-life-threatening”, which is what other sources describes it as.
Fillmore County, home to two separate Amish settlements, has seen more than its share of bad buggy wrecks over the years. Most notably, the notorious twin-sister impaired driving case which claimed the lives of two Amish girls in 2023.
Minnesota has actually tried to do something innovative about buggy safety in Fillmore County, as we’ve covered recently.
Last year, a stretch of Highway 44 in the county got the state’s first flashing beacon buggy warning system, triggered automatically when a buggy approaches.
That’s a good thing, and hopefully will help raise driver awareness. But it won’t stop someone who’s been drinking.
