PITTSYLVANIA CO., Va. – Pittsylvania County could become the first place in Virginia to test a new warning system designed to alert drivers to slow-moving vehicles, including Amish horse and buggies.
The system aims to reduce serious crashes on a busy stretch of Hermosa Road near Gretna, where cars, tractors and horse-drawn buggies share a narrow roadway.
“I’ve almost run over them, yeah,” said Pittsylvania County resident Richard Williams. “Oh, it’s definitely dangerous.”
Katie McClimans, another local resident, said drivers often find themselves unsure about passing slow vehicles safely. “Typically, they’ll come into rural areas, and you’ll get behind them and go slow and you’re kind of unsure if you should pass them or not because you know you don’t want to cause an accident.”
The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors is considering backing the new warning system, which would be the first of its kind in Virginia.
Len Stevens, communications manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Lynchburg District, explained the concept: “What you would have is a system that would identify slow-moving traffic, this would be horses and buggies but could also be slow-moving farm equipment like tractors, and when it identifies that there would be signs that are warning drivers to slow down.”
McClimans supports the idea, noting a rise in buggy-related accidents. “I do think that’s a good idea because I’ve heard of a lot more horse and buggy accidents over the past few years and I think it’s a really good idea for the community because I think a lot more people that use horse and buggies are going to come into the area.”
County staff report an average of 18 slow vehicles travel this road daily, with multiple buggy-related crashes in recent years.
Stevens recalled some tragic incidents: “September of ’23 there was a fatal crash north of Spring Valley, two young Amish sisters were killed when a driver hit a buggy with an SUV. In 2020, a crash in Gretna killed a 19-year-old and injured several others.”
VDOT plans to seek funding from the state’s Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund, known as ITTF, which supports experimental projects like this one.
“It’s a very early process, this has to be funded,” Stevens said. “We have put together the application through the ITTF and we’re now going to wait back and see where that goes.”
If approved, Pittsylvania County would serve as a test location for the system, contributing data that could inform future statewide efforts.
If the Pittsylvania Board of Supervisors signs off on the plan, the letter of support will boost the funding application, bringing this life-saving system one step closer to reality.