ELKHART — Whether it's a state highway or a county road, motorists often overestimate the time they have until they reach a horse-drawn buggy, and don't make a move to pass or slow down soon enough.
Two accidents involving buggies on the same road and during the same week this summer show what can happen when drivers don't pay enough attention:
• On May 29, a 17-year-old girl rear-ended a buggy with an Amish couple and their 6-week-old baby aboard on S.R. 13 near C.R. 34, according to the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department. The girl told police she got distracted and didn't see the buggy until it was too late to avoid the accident.
• Four days later on June 2, a 37-year-old Amish woman and her 4-year-old child were injured when their buggy was rear-ended by a car after the driver again got distracted, according to a sheriff's department press release.
None of the injuries in either accident were life-threatening.
"When people know they're traveling in plain country, they need to increase their awareness and decrease their speed," said Barbara Zortman, director at the Center for Traffic Safety in York, Pa. "Lots of accidents we see involve horse-drawn equipment that came out of nowhere, like around corners or over the crest of a hill."
In 2015, there were 20 crashes involving animal-drawn vehicles in Elkhart County, according to Capt. James Bradberry of the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department. Four accidents were logged in September, which was the highest amount for a single month. August and November saw no crashes and only five of the crashes resulted in injuries.
Elkhart and LaGrange County have the largest and oldest settlement of Amish in Indiana, with more than 10 different church districts, according to Amish America. The state has the third largest population of Amish in the U.S., behind Ohio and Pennsylvania.