After a buggy accident, people often ask “Why can’t there be buggy lanes for the Amish?” One big roadblock is cost. It’s generally judged too expensive to install buggy lanes in most of the hundreds of small communities where Amish live. So in reality it tends to happen primarily in the largest settlements. With that in mind, there is the good news that buggy lanes…
A somewhat bad news, and a rare good news story today in the buggy accidents department. First, this is the largest number of accident victims I have ever seen in a buggy incident. Thankfully, they all seem to have just minor injuries. The accident happened in Buckingham County, Virginia. This is the same area as the Farmville settlement which I visited and wrote about here…
A 16-year-old was killed in Lancaster County Saturday evening, when the buggy he was traveling in was hit by a speeding pickup. Three others in the buggy were seriously injured. From Lancaster Online: Samuel K. Lapp died as a result of the accident along Route 372 in Eden Township, state police confirmed Monday. Lapp’s older brother, Benuel, who was driving the buggy, was seriously injured…
I share this news because a picture is worth a thousand words. And there are two “good” images of this bad accident. Bad, but not as bad as it could have been. A distracted driver hit a buggy in upstate New York on Wednesday, reports country radio station Big Frog 104 (as an aside, great name for a radio station). The location is Franklin County,…
Another hit-and-run on an Amish buggy. This one happened yesterday in Clare County, Michigan, a place we recently covered here. From 9and10news.com: The Clare County Sheriff’s Department is asking for help to find whoever was behind the wheel during a hit-and-run with an Amish buggy. Deputies says it happened Sunday on Beaverton Road. They believe the car was possibly a Pontiac Grand Am or Grand…
The family of a 23-year-old Pennsylvania Amish man killed in an April hit-and-run may be closer to finding answers in a case described as having a “number of strange twists”. From WJAC: CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — It’s been nearly three and half months since an Amish man was killed in a hit-and-run crash on a rural, Centre County road. In an investigation that already…
I’m not loving sharing all these bad happenings on the roads with you. But after posting the sad case of a drunk driver who killed a young Amish father in Wisconsin last week, I surely can’t overlook this latest story. An 18-year-old Amish male was charged for “recklessly operating a buggy while drunk.” I don’t think that’s the exact name for the criminal charge, but…
Via WMTV: LAFAYETTE COUNTY, Wis. (WMTV) – A Gratoit man has died following he and his son were thrown from their Amish buggy when it was struck from behind by a pickup truck. According to the Lafayette Co. Sheriff’s Office, Elmer Stoltzfus, 22, passed away shortly after 9:00 a.m. His toddler son also suffered serious injuries in the crash, which happened around 7:15 p.m. Thursday…
From the Akron Beacon Journal: RIPLEY TWP. — Four children were seriously hurt Wednesday after a collision between an Amish pony cart and a vehicle. The crash occurred around 11:10 a.m. on County Road 329 at Township Road 524, according to a news release by Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly. Sheriff’s deputies say a 56-year-old Shreve man was westbound on County Road 329 in a…
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has completed an extensive study – the Statewide Amish Travel Study – examining road safety in the Buckeye State. The study is presumably the precursor to safety improvement projects for the state’s 70,000+ residents who travel by horse-and-buggy. The study found that over 700 accidents occurred on Ohio’s state routes from 2009-2018. Of those accidents, about 350 resulted in…