Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
November 3, 2002
PHILADELPHIA -- Officials in Pennsylvania are creating a new safety manual for horse-drawn buggy drivers, hoping it helps them avoid crashes with cars and trucks on winding Amish country roads.
Seven members of an Amish family, including five children from ages 3 to 11, were hospitalized this week after the latest such accident.
Similar to a Safe Driving in Amish Country brochure already available, the new manual will focus on common sense and courtesy, with an emphasis on lights and reflectors the law requires on carriages to give them higher visibility, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said.
"It's primarily going to be geared toward the Amish, giving them some tips on how to cope with much heavier, faster-moving vehicles than their buggies," Kirkpatrick said.
The manual will be published in about two months, though officials are still deciding how to distribute it, Kirkpatrick said. Drivers of animal-drawn vehicles may not see it at PennDOT offices, because they don't need licenses and they don't need to register the buggies.
Pennsylvania had 371 horse-and-buggy crashes, killing 18 people and injuring 442, from 1996 through 2000, the latest year for which PennDOT has buggy accident statistics available. In 40 percent of the crashes, the buggies were struck from the rear.