Car drivers complain about the lack of visibility of Amish buggies, particularly those of the plainest (Swartzentruber) churches. This group of Amish is highly resistant to change. But do Swartzentruber Amish never bend when it comes to making changes to their buggies? We’ve now seen more than one example showing that, in fact, they do. While visiting the North Carolina Swartzentruber settlement two weeks ago,…
Someone is swiping Amish buggy warning signs in Delta County, Michigan. After the latest round of thefts, the total of stolen signs is now four. And this is not just the sign the thief is taking – whoever is doing it, is actually uprooting the post as well – from three feet of concrete. Buggy sign in Delta County, MI. Photo by Clarissa Kell/Escanaba Daily…
I’m pointing this accident out as an example of a buggy road danger which I think is under-covered. Speed and lighting get a lot of attention, but hills are another big threat to Amish buggies. An Amishman is recovering with a broken neck in northern New York following an accident involving a hill. By the looks of this photo of his demolished, upside-down carriage, he’s…
It was just three months ago that three young Amish siblings were killed in a buggy crash in southern Michigan. Tragically, the story has repeated itself, in another part of the state. This time, it seems alcohol was not involved. The driver struck the children’s buggy as they returned home from school. From Lansing State Journal: In Wednesday’s crash, the four Amish siblings were in…
The Amish in Texas County, Missouri are few in number. Nonetheless, they’ve found themselves frequent victims on the roads lately. A woman and her two children are in serious condition after their buggy was hit Friday night by a pickup truck. This was the third buggy accident in two years for this sparsely-populated southern Missouri County. Texas County is unusual for several reasons. It is…
From the Associated Press: MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — Authorities say a motorcycle has struck an Amish buggy in Ohio, killing the man driving the motorcycle and injuring all four people in the horse-drawn vehicle. A State Highway Patrol release says 26-year-old Brandon Lee, of Middlefield, died at the scene of the crash that occurred around 5 p.m. Tuesday in Geauga County’s Parkman Township. Troopers say the…
Have a look at this buggy wreck photo…can you believe the driver escaped “shaken, but not injured”? The accident happened on Prince Edward Island, first settled by Amish in 2016. From the Canadian Press: A horse-drawn buggy was destroyed Wednesday morning after colliding with a truck on a rural road in the New Perth area, near where many Amish families have bought farms in the last…
Two adults and five children were ejected from their buggy when it was rear-ended in Ashland County, Ohio on Sunday. Three of the passengers, the father and two of the children, have serious injuries and were lifeflighted elsewhere, while the mother and remaining children were taken for local treatment. The children range from toddler age to seven years old. Cleveland’s News 5 reports on the…
There have been more than 630 buggy/vehicle accidents in Pennsylvania over the past decade. Based on that number, you can estimate roughly 3000 accidents across the entire 350,000-plus Amish/horse-and-buggy Mennonite population in that time. The Lancaster General Health system has created a list of tips for drivers to try to bring these numbers down. This came in part from firsthand immersion in the Lancaster Plain…
The past several weeks have seen quite a few buggy accidents in the news. The most headline-grabbing was the story of the Missouri woman who hit a buggy for the second time in a year. The first incident last September resulted in the death of a pregnant Amish woman. In the latest, the 83-year-old resident of Licking, MO, hit a buggy containing four youth, saying…