CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Va. β A Virginia sheriff is pushing for new technology to prevent deadly crashes between vehicles and horse-drawn buggies after a weekend accident in Richmond County injured seven people, including two who required medical helicopter transport.
Sheriff Darrell Hodges, who has served Cumberland County for 18 years, says he has responded to too many fatal crashes involving the Amish and Mennonite communities.
"To be perfectly honest, I've picked up the last child on the side of the road that I ever want to that's been killed in an accident, especially in a horse and buggy," Hodges said.
The growing Amish population across Virginia shares rural roads in horse-drawn buggies traveling about eight miles per hour while vehicles travel at highway speeds.
"If you pop over a curb or pop over a hill and all of a sudden there is something going eight miles an hour and you're doing 55, it closes the gap really quickly," Hodges said.
Virginia has experienced several horse and buggy crashes over the past year, including incidents in Cumberland County on July 14, 2024, Pittsylvania County on June 24, 2025, Buckingham County on August 17, 2025, and Westmoreland County on September 5, 2025.
"It's very traumatic when a motor vehicle hits a horse and buggy," Hodges said. "Both of our collisions were from the rear. There's no bumpers, there's no anything on that buggy to stop it. And there's no seatbelts to keep people from taking so many hits, people unfortunately are thrown in many different directions."
While horse and buggies are required by law to have working lights β white in front and red in the rear, visible up to 500 feet β Hodges proposes an additional safety measure.
"We came up with the idea of having a sign that when the horse and buggy go by, it will activate a sign similar to the sign behind me, and it will blink and it will let you know there's horse and buggy within a two mile radius," Hodges said.
The system would work similar to flashing pedestrian crossing signs, activated by devices similar to an E-Z Pass fastened to buggies. The flashing lights would warn drivers to be more alert when buggies are nearby.
Hodges has approached state legislators and the General Assembly about implementing the technology, and the Virginia Department of Transportation is conducting a study.
"We've had a few delegates and senators who have worked with us and talked to us about getting this put through," Hodges said. "We've talked to the General Assembly about putting something into affect. They're doing a VDOT study now, but with government sometimes that's a slow process."
The sheriff says the recent Richmond County crash serves as a wake-up call for motorists and state leaders to help protect a community that is rarely heard from.
"They need a voice and as law enforcement I feel that we should be their voice to help protect and keep them safe," Hodges said.
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