A new Ohio law requiring Amish buggies and other animal-drawn vehicles to display a yellow flashing light while driving on public streets goes into effect Aug. 31.
A new Ohio law requiring Amish buggies and other animal-drawn vehicles to display a yellow flashing light while driving on public streets goes into effect Aug. 31.
Earlier this summer, Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 30, which is intended to reduce crashes between Amish buggies and motorized vehicles.
The legislation was co-sponsored by Republican state Reps. Darrell Kick, of Loudonville, and Scott Wiggam, of Wooster, whose district includes a major Amish community.
A 2019 Ohio Department of Transportation Statewide Amish Travel Study found there were 723 buggy crashes between 2009 and 2019. Around 350 crashes caused injuries and 132 of them were incapacitating, according to the study. There were 17 fatalities. About 65% of the crashes with buggies happened while passing.
There were 120 crashes with buggies in 2020, and 60% of those happened during the day, according to committee testimony from Wiggam.
The new law requires buggies to have a yellow light mounted on the top-most portion of the vehicle’s rear and visible from a distance of not less than 1,000 feet. It also must be visible from the sides and lit at all hours.
Ohio has the largest Amish settlement population in the nation, according to 2021 estimates from the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.
The Holmes County settlement — 294 districts — is estimated to have 37,770 people and the Geauga County settlement — 148 districts — is estimated to have 19,420.
Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand said he spoke to members of the Amish community about the new law during the Amish Safety Day in July.
“Our Amish are good. Our people in this county already mark their buggies farther than they even have to under the new law,” Hildenbrand said.
He explained the law was passed because of problems with marked buggies in counties like Ashland and Holmes.
“We were down in the Ashland area the other day and there was a buggy on the main road and it didn’t even have a slow moving vehicle sign on it,” said Hildenbrand. “It only had three pieces of reflective tape and that was it. No lights, no nothing.”
The sheriff said the only thing most Amish in Geauga County will have to do to comply with the new law is install a yellow-strobe light on the top of the back of the buggy.
“Other than that, they’re in compliance already,” he added.
A sample of the yellow-strobe light was displayed at Amish Safety Day, Hildenbrand said. It was a high-efficiency LED light and measured roughly 3 inches by 4 inches.
“No one was resistant to installing the light at all,” he added.
The sheriff also said he does not expect enforcement of the new law to be an issue and his deputies will not be out looking to stop buggies — unless a buggy has no lighting at all. Any citation would be for an equipment violation.
Middlefield Village Police Chief Joe Tucholski echoed Hildenbrand’s comments.
“The Amish here, their buggies are equipped with all the necessary lighting and sometimes more than what’s necessary,” Tucholski said. “A lot of Amish, especially after dusk and into the nighttime hours, always use flashing lights of some sort.”
He added, “We have a lot of traffic here, especially in Middlefield, with (state routes) 528 and 87, and 608, so our Amish are prepared. I can’t see the flashing light requirement being a problem, that they’ll have to install, because most of them already have it.”
The chief also noted his department has not heard anything from the Amish community about the new law or its enforcement.
“We’re not going to be out looking to write people equipment violations for not having a flashing light,” said Tucholski. “Like I said, the Amish that come to our town, they know what’s right and what’s wrong, so their buggies are always equipped properly.”
