This Buckeye Road cart was hit directly from behind by a
small compact car. The front of the car went right between both wheels
and the driver, Kathleen Conklin, hit the back of her head on the windshield
at some point. One rear view mirror was sheared off and there were black
rubber tire marks left on the windshield post on one side. Both wheels
were sprung, which means the axle was bent in two places. The axle is at
least 1" square steel. The car stopped after the driver realized she had
hit something (she was temporarily blinded by the setting sun).
The cart was being pulled by John Henry a 16.2 Hand mammoth mule who
surged foward after the car stopped and pulled the cart off the front of
the car at which point, the seat and everything to the rear of the broken
shafts, tipped backwards so that the back rest of the seat was dragging
on the ground....Kathleen was still in the seat! She managed to get John
Henry onto a lawn next to the road and stop him. A young neighborhood boy
had called the police and came to stand at John Henry's head while Kathleen
unhitched him. John Henry was quite frightened but recieved no lacerations.
He did have some chiropractic issues as a result and is being treated
by his vet. 
A horse was being ridden in front of and to the side of John Henry and
it is believed that one of the wheels hit the rear end of the horse and
he is still lame a few days after the accident. The rider was taken to
the hospital but is apparently not badly injured.
Kathleen reported that this all took place with no warning and that
the cart kind of exploded and craked in half. She was wearing a helmet
which was cracked and the vehicle had a slow moving vehicle sign mounted
on it.
DRIVERS: Please be very careful driving in the late afternoon
especially in the winter when the sun is already low in the sky. Car drivers
can not see well. Under the condition in which this accident occured, the
driver of the car probably would have hit *anything* that had been in her
path. Even as big as John Henry is, the driver simply didn't see him. Kathleen
and John Henry were *very* lucky to escape with as little damage as they
did.