New law to require flashing lights on buggies
WOOSTER – A law that is designed to save lives and improve road safety, sponsored by two local state representatives, was recently signed into effect by Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine.
nullhouse Bill 30, sponsored by Scott Wiggam (R, Wooster) and Darrell Kick (R, Loudonville), clarifies and restructures the law regarding slow-moving vehicles to improve the lighting and reflective material requirements on animaldrawn vehicles, including Amish buggies.
“The bottom line is, we believe fully that this will save lives,” Wiggam said. “The speed differential is just too great.” Kick agreed.
“The objective is to reduce crashes,” Kick said. “In Holmes County, we are pretty progressive on our lighting and extra highway paving on the side of the roads. It is a lot different in many other areas throughout the state.
“In northern Ashland County and into western Medina and even into Wayne County near West Salem, there are a lot of old order Amish who are just not up to speed on the technology of the better reflective tape for the morning and evening, and light selections similar to what’s on top of a school bus,” he added. “We have a manufacturer in Wayne County that doesn’t sell buggies without that on there already.”
Statistics back up the bill
According to data provided by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, three of the top four counties in Ohio for vehicle versus buggy crashes are Wayne (146), Holmes (85) and Ashland (76) from 2017 to June 2022. Geauga County, another highly populated Amish area in Northeast Ohio, had 91 similar crashes. Knox (43), Stark (31) and Ashtabula (36) were the next closest counties.
The years 2017, 2019 and 2021 all exceeded 150 such accidents, with six fatalities in 2017. After buggy-related accidents, age was the next most common variable for accidents, with mature drivers and teens topping the list.
Flashing lights helpful in saving lives
Kick noted whether they are transporting people or buckboard with animals, the flashing light and reflective tape will be required.
“We’re just trying to reduce the numbers of deaths of people riding in buggies,” Kick said. “The numbers are being updated regularly.”
Wiggam added that flashing lights are helpful and used for special things.
“We put flashing yellow lights on things we love, from school buses to ambulances, and we put flashing lights on emergency vehicles, police and fire,” he said. “Everything we love, we put flashing lights on, especially when you’re talking about scenarios where something bad can happen.
“The speed differential of 35 to 50 miles per hour, something really bad has happened quite often in the state of Ohio, and we want to reduce that,” Wiggam continued. “We think this can be done pretty easily now with the technology available. That’s kind of where we are on this issue. We want to save lives. We all share the roads, and this issue spurred me to move forward with this.”
Many years in the making
This bill has been many years in the making, as Kick reported one of his first meetings as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives six years ago was to discuss Amish buggies in Ashland County.
“We had several people on hand asking me to do something,” he said. “Our bill passed the house last year, but with all the fiasco with Householder, a bunch of bills got sidetracked. It never made it back out of the senate last year. But, we got it done this year and now the governor has signed it.”
Wiggam, also in his third term, said doing something about making the roads safer for buggies was his No. 1 request from his constituents.
“On the west and south side of Wayne County, we had numerous requests for this,” Wiggam said. “There was actually a petition drive with some 250 names.
“I had a couple meetings with some folks in the West Salem area and both Amish men and women were asking for this,” he continued. “There was even one man who left the old order because of the road safety issue specifically.”
There were also public Amish community meetings held in Charm, where there were emergency management personnel and law enforcement.
“Ohio State and the State Highway Patrol had done a study on what they felt would be the safest and most effective rout, and the flashing light was included,” Wiggam said. “It was studied, requested, and we finally put it forward.”
“We had Amish come in and send us letters asking us to do something,” Kick added. “One of our favorite testimonies was from an Amish man who said, ‘This is not so much about religion as it is about tradition. And tradition can be changed.’ I think that moved just enough members who didn’t want to inflict religious burdens on the Amish. But we’re still going to have some bishops that aren’t happy with it. We’ve had bishops tell us they will abide by the law; they just don’t want to see it happen.”
Specifications of HB 30
The bill clarifies and restructures the law regarding slow-moving vehicles, and revises the lighting and reflective material requirements applicable to animal-drawn vehicles. Specifically, the bill requires certain animal-drawn vehicles to have a yellow flashing lamp mounted on either the top-most portion of the rear of the vehicle or on the top of the vehicle at all times, and during the period between sunset and sunrise, at least one white lamp on the front and two red lamps (or one red lamp and two red reflectors) at the rear.
The bill specifies that the microprism reflective tape used on animaldrawn vehicles can only be red, amber, white or silver in color (under current law, black and gray reflective tape are also options)
Under continuing law, a violation of the state’s slow-moving vehicle law is a minor misdemeanor. In the case of the commission of a minor misdemeanor, a law enforcement officer generally does not arrest a person, but instead issues a citation.