Truck Hits Buggy, Sending Two Amish Victims To Hospital (Ohio)
A car left a buggy looking pretty badly, as you can see in the above photo – in a crash which happened Wednesday in Ashland County, Ohio. Ashland County Pictures does a great job as usual reporting this with numerous photos of the accident scene.
The driver of the buggy and a teenage passenger both went to hospital, with injuries described as “non-life-threatening”. This is a designation which you see a lot in these reports.
Much better of course than “life-threatening”, but it still leaves a lot unknown. It seems to me that a “non-life-threatening” injury can still be a serious and debilitating one. But let’s hope not.
The horse also suffered a “minor” injury. In one of the photos at the link you can see a relatively small cut on an upper hind leg. If that’s the extent of it then he made it through not too badly I would say.
Here is what happened via ACP:
SULLIVAN — The Ashland Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Sullivan Fire Department, and Polk Jackson EMS responded to a vehicle-versus-Amish buggy crash Wednesday, Sept. 24, on U.S. Route 224 east of Sullivan near County Road 391.
According to troopers, a 2018 GMC Canyon driven by Kelsey Struckoff, 22, of Nova, struck the rear of an eastbound buggy operated by Daniel Swartzentruber, 44, of Sullivan. A 16-year-old passenger was also in the buggy.
So it’s another rear-end accident, which seems to me about the most common way that these things happen. You can see the buggy went off the side of the road and overturned.
The pickup driver was not injured, and drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash, according to troopers.
There are several Amish communities in this Amish-heavy county; this would be the largest one, a Swartzentruber settlement of over 2,600 people which sprawls into neighboring Medina and Wayne Counties.
Below you’ll see another photo of the overturned, destroyed buggy; you can just see the face of an Amish man – perhaps a fellow community member (or possibly the driver himself) just above the top of the buggy.
If it is the driver, that would be a positive indication that his injuries aren’t that bad, though I suppose it is more likely someone from the community who arrived on the scene.
So it’s not clear what factors may be implicated in this crash. There’s no mention of time of day; it appears to be overcast and there has been recent rainfall as you can see by the condition of the roads.
Swartzentruber Amish buggies do not use the SMV triangle or electric lights, though this was clearly a daytime crash. In any case, wishing the two victims a speedy and full recovery.
That is disgusting. People should know there are a lot of Amish buggies, and when you are driving in Pa look for them and slow down.
Have respect for tha Amish, it is their territory.
Ashland County Ohio Crash
I understand that many Amish believe that if something tragic happens to them that it is God’s will?? But has it ever occurred to them that He might want them to SURVIVE these events?? Not picking on anyone here, but perhaps it’s time ALL Amish (in every state) just accept the fact that they need lights on their buggies & they agree to mark their vehicles (tractors & other vehicles as well) so the carnage will STOP?! Perhaps the Amish way of thinking should be changed?? It’s a pity nobody has the time & man power to go from church to church or door to door to talk with them . . . implore them even . . . to simply accept the fact that accidents ARE preventable and that we who own motor vehicles would never get away without using our lights/signals. Getting really tired of reading all of these sad articles. Just saying . . .