Some modest suggestions

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

F = MA. This is an engineering equation. Force = Mass times Acceleration. Or, it can be deceleration if you are trying to stop. Mass is not weight, it is slugs, which is weight divided by the acceleration of gravity which is 32.2 feet/second/second. Running a 4,000-pound car doing 50 mph through this equation and you end up with 3,340 pounds-force, assuming you are stopping the car in 100 feet.

Don’t worry about the first paragraph, it is just engineering background. In practical terms, if a car is traveling down the road at 50 mph, sees a buggy 50 feet ahead, promptly hits his brakes, he will travel 50 feet through the buggy’s current location before he comes to rest, all the time exerting 3,340 pounds-force.   

If the car hits the buggy off-center, the buggy will be thrown to the right or left. If the car hits the buggy exactly on center, the car will run over it. Fifty feet of vision seems short until you consider the hills and curves in Highland County roads.

Highland County has had at least four car/buggy accidents in the last month. Going back six years this coming February, my friend, Scott Richardson, was killed in a car/buggy crash on U.S. 62, south of Hillsboro.  

That crash was caused by distracted driving (it was around noon on a bright sunny day on a straight stretch of highway with almost two miles of visibility). 

These car/buggy incidents were theoretical for me – until then.

Since 2020, Ohio has had at least 15 car/buggy crashes, with five of them in Highland County. There were approximately 30 such crashes in Pennsylvania in the same time period. This number seems suspect, for Lancaster County alone reported 23 car/buggy crashes in 2020.

Now, how do we reduce these?  

I am going to be treading in areas where I have little expertise, I admit.

Legally, make even tapping a buggy the punishment equivalent of drunk driving. Anyone maimed or killed, treat it like a gunshot. Post signs on all state and federal road entrances to Highland County stating the average speed of buggies and listing the punishments.

Buggy drivers, you have a responsibility, too. Make sure your flashing lights have a fresh charge (I know some of you have to have your neighbors help you keep the batteries charged up).  

Prominently display slow-moving vehicle signs and keep them clean and shiny. Mount them high up so they can better be seen over hills. Forget the dinky red flags on a steel rod – they are nearly invisible.

Get white reflective paint. Paint a band one foot high, one foot from the top of the buggy roof, on the sides and back of the buggy. I know you want the buggies all black, so this will take a conference of your elders in order to discuss and approve.

Then build a frame on the back of the buggy out of 2x4s that will hold two rows of one-gallon, store-bought plastic milk bottles. Fill them with water, and put the caps on. When a car hits these, it will at least dissipate some of the force upward. 

I admit two problems with this solution – unless you add antifreeze, they will freeze solidly in the winter (but may still provide some dampening of the force). The other is (I think it will take two rows of five) it will add over 80 more pounds for the horse to pull.

Finally, you could pull a two-wheeled cart behind the buggy. It will absorb some of the force, too.  Caution: hitch it low enough that the tongue will have no chance of piercing the buggy cab.

Just some modest suggestions in hopes of saving a life – or more.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.