BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. -- Three people are recovering with serious injuries after the horse-drawn buggy they were riding in was rear-ended by a vehicle Sunday morning.
The driver of the buggy, an 18-year-old man, and his passengers, a 20-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy, were hospitalized.
Haley Taylor, 18, who was driving a 2002 Honda was charged with Reckless Driving.
The father of the teen driver told Wayne Coivil his daughter is being vilified on social media. He said she was not texting and was on her way to work when the accident happened.
He also says she tried to get out of her overturned car to try to help the people in the buggy. Taylor was also transported to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.
"There's nothing left of that, it's not like a car, it just went to pieces," said Bridgett Hipes, co-owner of Small Town Towing, who picked up the buggy after the crash.
Horse drawn buggies are not a common site in Buckingham but the frequency of seeing them is increasing.
So much so, VDOT has installed yellow signs with horse and buggy on them to alert drivers on Route 15, which is the road the accident occurred on Sunday Morning.
The crash Sunday is the second since July, when a mother and her son were injured when the buggy they were in was also rear ended by a car.
Hipes says Sunday night after the accident, they were on another towing call and they ran up on another horse and buggy on the road.
"The sad part is you could barely see him, he had a light but it almost looked like, small like a bouncing ball down the road. You don't even notice them until you're right on top of them in the dark," she said.
"With the increase in Amish families moving into Buckingham County, there is a greater need for buggies and motor vehicles to safely and responsibly share the road together," said Virginia State Police.
Several Amish told CBS 6 they do wish drivers would slow down when ever they see a horse-drawn buggy.
