A 37-year-old Wilton woman, who was riding in the buggy, died and four other buggy passengers remain hospitalized after a Tomah Township driver said she experienced a sudden sneezing fit and did not see the Amish family's horse-drawn buggy before striking it from behind. The 38-year-old Tomah woman driving the 2025 Volkswagen Atlas reported experiencing the sneezing fit and told authorities she did not see the buggy, which was heading southbound up a hill on State Highway 131, before the collision Friday afternoon.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call around 3:35 p.m. Friday reporting the crash between County Highway A and Irondale Avenue in Tomah Township, according to KXII. The Volkswagen driver was trapped in her vehicle following the impact but was later freed, treated and released from the hospital, per a report from Gray News. Nearly a dozen agencies, including fire and ambulance crews from Tomah, Wilton, Oakdale and Fort McCoy along with an EmpliflyAir medical helicopter, responded to the scene, shutting down the highway corridor for roughly two hours.
Five Buggy Occupants Hurt, One Fatally
The occupants riding in the buggy ranged in age from 18 months to 37 years, and the crash killed one person and injured five others. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office was assisted at the scene by the Wisconsin State Patrol and the Oakdale Fire Department, and officials offered condolences to the affected families and communities, though the names of those involved were not immediately released.
Four surviving buggy passengers, ranging in age from 18 months to 24 years, remained hospitalized with serious injuries following the crash, according to the same Gray News account. The extent of their ongoing medical conditions has not been detailed publicly.
A Sneeze, Fifty Feet, and a Legal Defense
The driver's account of a sneezing fit adds an unusual physical dimension to the case. Automotive safety research published by Direct Auto Insurance found that a vehicle traveling at 60 mph can cover roughly 50 feet while a driver's eyes are involuntarily closed during a single sneeze reflex.
That distance matters legally as well as physically. Wisconsin doctrine allows drivers in personal injury cases to raise a sudden medical emergency defense, according to Sigman Janssen, which can relieve a motorist of liability if the physical incapacitation was truly unforeseeable and not preceded by negligent driving. The available crash reports do not state whether law enforcement issued citations or filed charges against the Volkswagen driver.
Buggies Share the Road With Fast-Moving Traffic
Under Wisconsin vehicle-equipment provisions, buggies must display a slow-moving vehicle emblem along with front white lighting and rear red and amber strobe lights visible from 500 feet; § 347.24 addresses the lighting requirements. These protections were enacted under Wisconsin Act 228, as detailed by OnFocus News. The sources do not discuss whether the buggy had the required rear strobe lighting.
The crash occurred in a region with a substantial Amish presence. The Wilton and Tomah area in Monroe County is home to an Old Order Amish settlement founded in 1969 that comprised roughly 1,300 residents across nine church districts as of 2024.
A Statewide Pattern of Rear-End Crashes
Preliminary Wisconsin Department of Transportation data reported in May 2026 recorded 165 crashes involving animal-drawn vehicles statewide over a five-year span, resulting in 12 deaths and 186 injuries, with state patrol officials pointing to speed differentials and driver distraction as primary factors, according to the Wisconsin Radio Network. The broader reporting does not include a separate analysis of regional horse-drawn vehicle crashes.
Broader traffic records compiled by a Sauk County Sheriff's Office result list 318 crashes involving horse-drawn vehicles since 2017, causing 19 deaths and 304 injuries statewide. Friday's crash involved a buggy.
