Flashing lights too flashy for some Amish. Old order challenges new Ohio buggy law
The Swartzentruber Amish are suing to overturn Ohio's new traffic law that requires animal-drawn buggies to have yellow flashing lights, saying the law conflicts with the First Amendment protecting their religious expression.
The Swartzentruber order, which enlisted legal help from Harvard University Law School's Religious Freedom Clinic, is suing to block enforcement of the law.
More than 200 tickets have been issued to Amish buggy drivers since lawmakers adopted the regulation in June 2022. The law change came after a statewide study showed 723 buggy crashes, including 15 that involved fatalities, over a 10-year period.
In Ohio, millions of drivers share roads with more than 76,000 Amish and Mennonite travelers, especially in Ashland, Wayne and Holmes counties. The black, horse-drawn buggies travel at less than 10 miles per hour amid cars and trucks driving much faster.
Swartzentruber Amish are a conservative sub-group of Amish that formed in Holmes County more than a century ago. They are more restrictive than progressive Amish on what technologies can be used. They use reflective tape and oil lanterns on their black buggies but eschew battery-powered lights.
According to their religious faith, Swartzentruber Amish believe they should avoid showy behavior and reject a reliance on worldly things.
The state law requires them to choose between following the law or their faith, according to the lawsuit filed in Hardin County Common Pleas Court in August. Failure to follow the law subjects them to misdemeanor charges, ticket fees, court costs, confiscation of their buggies and property liens.
Last month, the Hardin County Common Pleas Court granted a temporary restraining order, according to Cory Anderson, a sociologist who studies Amish communities and has worked on the case.
Before the legislation passed into law, the Ohio Legislative Service Commission noted that it could raise First Amendment issues.
Some of the Swartzentruber Amish feel targeted.
Buggy drivers said in court filings that officers waited outside a Swartzentruber church service in Belmont County and wrote a dozen tickets to drivers as they returned home in their buggies, and in October 2022, state troopers waited outside Ashland County Municipal Court where Swartzentrubers appeared to respond to previous tickets and issued them more citations.
The state traffic safety study found that most of the buggy crashes occur during daylight and in clear weather conditions. The study attributed crashes to distracted driving, poor sight lines, speed differentials and other factors.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the Paste BN Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.