Multiple collisions between Amish horse-drawn buggies and motor vehicles along U.S. Route 422 prompted nearly a dozen Amish to ask Parkman Township Trustees for help Oct. 21.
Multiple collisions between Amish horse-drawn buggies and motor vehicles along U.S. Route 422 prompted nearly a dozen Amish to ask Parkman Township Trustees for help Oct. 21.
Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand sat in the audience last Tuesday evening and offered his support in finding a solution to the deadly four-lane speedway through Parkman.
Matt Yutzy, who lives on Farmington Road, which intersects with Route 422 (Main Market Street) east of the town center, thanked law enforcement, including Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Jamie Santiago, for attending the meeting.
“We all know 422 is a very busy road. When we drive on it with our buggies, we feel we are a hindrance to traffic,” Yutzy said, adding the slow-moving buggies are at the mercy of the traffic.
“We are at risk,” he said. “We don’t have the ability to stop or swerve quickly.”
Yutzy noted an accident Oct. 12 on Route 422 between a commercial truck and a buggy that resulted in the death of an Amish woman and the driver of the buggy being seriously injured.
He also recalled a relative being killed in an accident on Main Market last year.
“I have been involved in two accidents on 422,” Yutzy said. “We are asking for our local and state government to help in providing an alternative to traveling on 422. We would, as a community, be willing to help any way we can. We are not trying to push our agenda, just respectfully asking if there’s anything that can be done.”
Yutzy highlighted alternative routes that would allow buggies to avoid the intersection of Route 422 and state Route 528 in the middle of town, which included a mix of private and state properties.
Mark Byler, also a Farmington Road resident, asked trustees for the best way to proceed.
Resident Joe Keough said he contacted the Ohio Department of Transportation.
“The woman I spoke with assured me there is a traffic study underway,” he said.
Trustee Joyce Peters said a traffic study can take a long time, but perhaps some signs warning about slow-moving traffic could be posted sooner.
While the Amish do a great job following the law regarding lights on their buggies, if motor vehicle drivers are not paying attention or are not familiar with horse-and-buggy traffic, there is still a problem, Hildenbrand said.
“ODOT has signs in Middlefield that say, ‘Share the road with buggies,’” he said, adding more signs might help, since some drivers along the interstate may have never seen a horse and buggy before.
Township resident John Augustine said the traffic along Main Market Road has increased since the tolls for traveling along the Ohio Turnpike were increased in 2024, causing more drivers to take Route 422 east and west.
Hildenbrand said he would work with ODOT to help the Amish improve safety along Main Market Road.
“I wouldn’t want to drive a buggy down this road. It’s busy and it’s going to get busier,” he said. “You all know how to get a hold of me.”
Yutzy noted a couple locations on Main Market Road that are particularly dangerous.
The Amish said they would like to have a way around the intersection of state Route 528 and Main Market Road where traffic from state Route 168 (Tavern Road) converges just north of the light.
Main Market Road curves as it comes into the commercial area of the township and the speed limit is 45 mph, as traffic comes by Farmington Road and the new Dollar General store at 16515 Main Market.
“Traffic going left on Farmington don’t use their turn signals or slow down,” Byler said.
Main Market Road curves south at that point and Farmington goes straight. Traffic going east toward Farmington Road crosses the busy westbound lanes in a straight line, Byler said, asking if a traffic light at Farmington and Main Market would be possible.
“Signals usually get controlled by ODOT. It is their road,” Trustee Lance Portman said. “We’ll have to get them involved in this.”
Exiting Dollar General on the curve is also risky since fast-moving traffic from both directions is hard to see, Peters said.
Santiago noted the Chardon OSHP post has eight troopers, so patrolling traffic is difficult. However, the district is setting up a saturation patrol unit, drawing personnel from several counties to operate as a crash prevention team. They will visit different areas to enforce speed limits, he said.
Trustee Henry Duchscherer asked the ad hoc committee to put possible alternate buggy routes on a map the trustees can include in discussions with ODOT.
Byler said he moved to Parkman in 1993 and he was able to retrain former race horses for pulling buggies on Main Market Road.
“Times change. It’s an honor to be part of a community that cares,” he said. “We are the minority — we want to be respectful and make sure we are doing our part. (The road) is not just unsafe for us. Every time someone gets hurt or killed in an accident … it ruins the lives of people. Everybody wins if we can pull this off. We’re not demanding — simply asking what can we do?”
ODOT Public Information Officer Brent Kovack confirmed Oct. 27 a study is underway.
“ODOT’s stance is we are having active conversations with the (Parkman) Amish to learn what they are looking for on that section of roadway,” he said, adding the second meeting with them will be in November. “Our study looks at all avenues — everything is on the table.”
The stretch of Route 422 from Farmington Road to Route 528 had 20 crashes from 2020 to 2024, according to ODOT’s traffic report.
The report did not include the intersections of Route 422 and Tavern Road or Route 422 and Farmington Road, Kovack said, adding figures for the last year are not yet available.
Of the 20 accidents, one was a buggy/motor vehicle crash in 2020 resulting in no deaths, he said.
The other vehicle-to-vehicle crashes included 15 in front of the gas station at Route 422 and Tavern Road and four occurred in front of the Parkman Township Community Hall, Kovack said.
“I’m sure there were more crashes at the intersections,” he said.
