Sheriff's Office issues safety tip for sharing the road with horse-drawn vehicles
Sharing the road with horse-drawn vehicles safely requires a shift in your usual driving habits.
Because horse-drawn vehicles interact differently with traffic, keep these critical warnings and safety guidelines in mind:
• Extreme Speed Differential: Buggies typically travel at only 5 to 8 miles per hour. A car traveling at highway speeds will close the distance between your vehicle and a slow-moving buggy incredibly fast. Treat a buggy sighting like you are approaching a stationary object and reduce your speed immediately.
• Low Visibility Conditions: While most modern buggies are equipped with reflective tape and battery-powered lights, the horses themselves are dark and highly invisible at dawn, dusk, and nighttime. Also be mindful of the sun; driving directly into sunlight can make it hard to see.
• Never Honk Your Horn: Horses are easily spooked by sudden, loud noises like car horns, revving engines, or screeching tires. A spooked horse can bolt directly into oncoming traffic or flip the carriage.
• Give Extra Clearance When Passing: Pass only when pavement markings allow, and visibility is entirely clear around the buggy. Pull out wide and allow at least 20 feet of clearance ahead of the horse before merging back into the travel lane.
• Watch for Left Turns: Buggies should stay as close to the right shoulder as possible during normal travel. However, they must drift toward the center of the lane to execute a left turn. Look closely for mechanical turn signals or the operator's manual hand gestures before attempting to pass.
• Vulnerable Passengers: Keep in mind that many buggies transport whole families, and children frequently operate smaller, low-profile pony carts that sit lower to the ground and are even harder to spot.
Brush Creek Volunteer Fire Department added this: "Everyone, we live in a pretty large place with multiple Amish and Mennonite communities. They travel S.R. 124 from Hillsboro to the Pike County Line, S.R. 138 from Hillsboro to Greenfield, U.S. 50 from Hillsboro to Bainbridge, S.R. 41 from Sinking Spring to Greenfield, S.R. 753 from S.R. 41 to Greenfield, S.R. 73 from Hillsboro down into Adams County, and all the back roads in between.
"With that being said, we've had four buggy vs. car accidents – two being fatal – in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Can we please watch out a little better for the buggies and also those on bicycles especially in the curves and blind hills. Thank you from all the Fire and EMS crews in Highland County."
Comment
Pedestrians
Am I allowed to walk 4 mph or jog 8 mph in the middle of the lane on any public road simply by wearing an SMV on my back? Night or day; fog, hail. sleet, or snow? How do we know the horses are trained properly? Are the buggies inspected for defects? I just saw a buggy in front of me a couple days go, its went steering berserk when the carriage started trotting again downhill. The buggy almost upset due to its awful steering mechanism. Is there an age limit or training for the drovers? Can a logger in his log skidder drag trees down the road on public highways? If my mode of transportation was systematically and unpredictably unsafe, I'd find a new way of locomotion...
••••Publisher's note: Much of this is addressed in the ORC 4500 section. One example: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4513.114
Cycling, Running, And Walking
As a former runner and cyclist, I always used the right side of the road. Hugging the white line if there was one. Bicycle had mirror. Sometimes on both sides. Running or walking, always listening for traffic and looking back especially for very large trucks. Then stop or use the shoulder. Others, not using common sense, and using the entire lane creates negative image for all cyclists, runners, pedestrians. Pedestrians should walk facing oncoming traffic. This was a lesson taught in grade school as the safe way. Should a vehicle swerve, you have a chance to get out of the way. From behind you have no chance to evade being hit. Single file for all is recommended. Believe me when I have stopped and advised in a stern lecture unsafe use of roads is projecting a negative image.
4513.114 Enforcement
My experience in Brown and Highland Counties is the provisions are not enforced. I will collect photographs and present to Highland County Commissioners and Highland County Sherrif. Also City police departments and the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Time to stop looking the other way and allowing non compliance based upon religious beliefs. If as rumored thier was an Ohio or US Supreme Court ruling allowing non-compliance, then the current ORC 4513.114 should be modified by the Legislature.
Safety Standards And Education For Any Horse Drawn Device
Every vehicle or agricultural device shall be subjected to inspection annually and pay a reasonable fee to use any road in Ohio. Every operator should pass a operating test similar to Ohio requirements for obtaining a driver's license learner's permit. I have never witnessed a hand signal or turning light. Left right stop or slowing used when a cyclist. Red rear blinking light used day and night. White headlight. Steady or blinking. Reflective vest at night. Ohio can do better educating the operators of all horse drawn vehicles or agricultural equipment. Until then, expect additional injuries up to and including death. Finally every road into Highland County should be marked with the horse and buggy signage. Add Caution Advised in this area. Any motor powered vehicle agricultural equipment rear ending shall be fined $10,000 and 6 points on the license.
dead horses
some folks really do beat dead horses – George Washington.
Don't Outdrive Your Visibility And Braking Distance
So you may seem me going 10 mph many blind spots. Hills and curves primarily.