An infant riding in a horse-drawn buggy was airlifted to a Nashville hospital after the buggy collided with a vehicle on Old Bowling Green Road in Barren County, Kentucky, on Wednesday. The buggy operator was also taken to a hospital for evaluation of a possible head injury, while the driver of the vehicle was not hurt.
According to WBKO, deputies responded to 7455 Old Bowling Green Road for a report of a vehicle and horse-drawn buggy crash. The infant who had been riding in the buggy was flown to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for treatment, the station reported, though no further details on the child’s condition were available. The buggy operator was taken to a hospital separately for evaluation of a possible head injury.
A preliminary investigation found that the driver, identified as Ruth Jackson, was traveling eastbound on Old Bowling Green Road when the collision occurred, according to WNKY. Investigators told WBKO that sun glare affected Jackson’s visibility before the crash happened. Jackson did not sustain any injuries, per the same account from deputies.
Multiple Agencies Responded to the Scene
Barren County EMS, the Glasgow Fire Department, emergency management, Kentucky State Police, and EM1 all responded to the scene, the station reported. WSMV also reported on the crash, noting that authorities are investigating.
The crash comes just over a week after another Barren County buggy collision. Four juvenile occupants of an Amish buggy were injured when a car struck it from behind on Hiseville Park Road on Nov. 3, according to WCLU Radio. That crash and Wednesday’s collision are separate incidents, and nothing in the available reporting ties the two together beyond their shared location.
A Pattern Researchers Have Tracked Elsewhere
Kentucky has seen other serious buggy crashes in recent months. In Carroll County in May, a white 2010 Nissan Altima driven by Daniel Crawford rear-ended a horse-and-buggy carrying three children, Kentucky State Police said, according to Kentucky.com. One child died in that crash and two others were treated for life-threatening injuries. In a separate, earlier Barren County crash, a pickup truck hit a horse-drawn buggy from behind, killing a 6-year-old child and injuring the buggy operator and two other children, Kentucky.com also reported.
A study reported by LancasterOnline, examining crash reports published in the Amish and Mennonite periodical The Diary from 2015 through 2022, found that most of the crashes in its dataset occurred when a vehicle rear-ended a horse-and-buggy. Researchers found that more than 46% of all horse-and-buggy crashes in their dataset were caused by motor-vehicle driver error, and that among crashes with a known cause, motor-vehicle drivers were at fault more than three-quarters of the time. The study reported that 19% of crashes between a horse-and-buggy and a motor vehicle resulted in serious injuries, and more than 8% resulted in at least one death. Researchers cautioned that the accounts they reviewed depend on local scribes, noting, “We are limited by what the scribe reports. Different scribes report different levels of detail.” That dataset reflects a separate location and time period and does not establish a rate specific to Barren County.
