New Law Aimed At Amish Community Would Ban Steel Wheel Buggies, Require Manure Cleanup
A proposed ordinance in Bedford County, Pennsylvania would force local Amish to adapt their buggies to be more “road-friendly”, at least from the perspective of some residents.
At the same time, others are concerned it could “disproportionately impact” the Amish community. From the report at WJAC:
BEDFORD COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — A proposed ordinance in Bedford Township is drawing scrutiny ahead of a vote scheduled for July 21st, with some residents raising concerns it could impact the local Amish community hardest.
The ordinance, advertised by the Bedford Township supervisors, would prohibit vehicles with metal wheels from operating on township highways. It would also require owners of horses and other large animals to clean up or contain animal waste on public roadways.
I’d say it would clearly impact the Amish community beyond pretty much all others in the community (horse owners who ride on public roads might be another group, but that’s not a common situation). The reason for the ordinance is not unusual:
According to the proposed ordinance, the township has noticed damage to public roadways caused by metal tracks and wheels, along with the uncleanliness and potentially hazardous nature of animal waste on public property.
As far as the concern “it could impact the local Amish community hardest” – obviously it will do just that, because this ordinance is above all about the Amish residents of the community.
Not The First Example Of This
And it’s not the first of its kind. We saw something like it in Lycoming County, PA some years back, which proposed a similar set of requirements, including one that horses wear horse diapers.
In another case, lawmakers in Wisconsin addressed buggy damage caused in some cases by horseshoe studs meant for winter use on ice being used in warmer months.
More recently the road damage issue has come up for discussion in Amish-heavy Branch County, Michigan, where steel wheels and carbide-tipped horseshoes have been blamed for destroying road surfaces.
So this is not a unique issue, and it’s understandable that those responsible for budgeting for road repair would want to address damage created by buggy use.
And it’s true that Amish buggies do contribute to the wear and tear and even do significant damage to road surfaces. Some communities deal with this by assessing an annual buggy fee. In other places, the Amish make voluntary contributions.
In other places, local governments attempt to deal with it by passing laws like this one. Under the proposed ordinance in Bedford Township, violations would incur fines of $250 to $500.
This may be even more about the horse-drawn farm implements than buggies, even though “buggies” is the language used in the report. Metal-wheeled carts and other wheeled equipment are sometimes moved from farm to farm and in theory would cause greater damage than lighter buggies. See an example of one above, from the WJAC video report.
Amish Ways In A New Community
Reporter Baylee Wojcik says she reached out to the Township with questions, including on what specifically prompted this proposal, but they declined to offer comment until their official meeting takes place. She also reached out to the ACLU of Pennsylvania, without response at the time of the report.
As you might guess from the buggy top, the Bedford County Amish community is a Lancaster County-related group. The community was first settled just a few years ago – in 2022 – and numbers a bit over 100 Amish residents.
So this is not an established settlement where the Amish and non-Amish residents have completely figured out how to live together, to put it bluntly.
The attempt to pass a new ordinance suggests that perhaps Amish residents were not minded to contribute voluntarily for road upkeep, or, that that idea wasn’t tried.
There can also be related tensions under the surface that drive these types of attempts by local officials. I can see their perspective, but obviously not every community comes to this point when trying to address the effects of horse-drawn vehicle traffic.
I would suspect that they don’t have the greatest relations with the local Amish, if it is going in this direction. The Bedford Township supervisors’ vote will happen Monday.
Rubber rims?
While visiting the Arthur, Illinois, community some years back, we had lunch with an Amish family. The woman showed us her buggy and I noticed it had rubber rims over the steel wheels. I mentioned that and she enthusiastically told me how she liked how it smoothed out the ride and made it much quieter. She thought it was a great improvement over plain steel rims. Yes, they had to replace the rubber rims periodically, but it was worth it. And this was not some youngster. She was well into her 60s.
Dunno if this community would like the idea, but at least one other Old Order community has done it. That would help the road damage. Won’t do anything about manure 😉
Another money-grab
” it could impact the local Amish community hardest.”…..can any semi-intelligent logic offer to identify ANY other persons affected by this ludicrous proposal? While I have no insight into local politics here, it’s obviously time to dispense with the current crop of “supervisors” and inject some intelligence into local “government.”
Buggies and horse manure
First of all for you not do intelligent English horses eat grain and other grain type material when digested and expelled from the horse is good fertilizer. This is not like dog food that is made from what ever. Being English, I would muck a horse stall over a dog kennel any day and yes I have done both.
Second, talk about wheels has to do with comfort where Amish feel rubber tires is comfortable. Well what about 18 wheelers they do more damage to a roadway that a buggy. You know if you quit picking on the Amish instead of talking and asking for help I’m sure there would be cooperation. If me being English can talk to them what’s wrong with you???
Bill
18 Wheelers weigh far, far more than a horse drawn vehicle of any kind.
Trucks vs buggies
A registration for a tractor trailer is THOUSANDS a year…. Not to mention all the FET and other taxes imposed on them that are supposedly going to road maintenance. NOT even close. The weight distribution over the wheels per quare inch is where those skinny steel wheels do the damage. I am NOT against the Amish at all….. However, they DO need to pay to keep the roads upkept as well as anyone who uses them.
New law aimed at Amish
If people are going to complain about the horse droppings that’s mostly grass and grain, then complain about the people cutting grass and throwing it into the roadways causing motorcycle accidents.
You’re going to make more money from the people cutting grass and it going into the roadways causing accidents as 2 tires on wet grass is like riding on ice.
Amish been living in there world not bothering anyone!! they don’t come for the English!! They stay amongst themselves don’t forget those big trucks and cars that do more harm! them those metel wheels on their buggy for real about the horse crap I can see cleaning up after them, but fine someone else to Champlain!!! about Please leave those folks alone!!! thank you from and English girl
Yeah ok, a horse and buggy are damaging the roads. Not the half baked way of paving the roads, outside edges at one time, center of the road another, grinding rumble strips into asphalt (basically planting pothole seeds). PA roads in general are sad and pathetic.
Dig A Little Deeper!
With an Amish population in the county of a little over 100 total citizens compared to the county wide population of English of approximately 47k, who is really causing the damage to the roadways? Rubber wheels for the buggies would definitely be better and would make the ride smoother but IMO seems like horse droppings and steel wheels are a petty gripe from a few board members that have an underlying personal problem with the Amish. Semis, county trucks, heavy farm equipment and traffic from English vehicles cause way more damage to county roadways than fewer than 50+ Amish households.
Delusional
The fact you have no problem with people letting their large animals crap all over the road and just leaving it there says a lot about you. Enough with the horses already. They use gas powered farm equipment, they get people to drive them around in cars….for Christ sake just quit the bull and start using cars. I’ve seen the Amish on a tractor pulling a flatbed trailer with little kids sitting on it down 30 and to the Walmart on 10. They’re some of the most unsafe people around who don’t follow our laws. Let’s not even talk about inbreeding.
Amish regulations
I live with the Amish in clarion, county pa. I am best friends and do everything with them, including making hay and caring for calve barns. The metal wheels are definitely hard on roads and manure is extremely dangerous on roads due to motorcycle and pedestrian usage. I understand old school, but I really do feel that its time to stand up to their unreasonable beliefs. There has already been 2- horses that were pushed so hard to travel that they both died from the heat! No matter how much I care for them, I think enough is enough, they are getting killed on the roads and highways and it needs to stop and reinvent some rules and laws.
Fair contribution
It ok for them to pay for what road Rights they get. They get a lot of freedom in a country where they have sent 0 sons to die to protect those rights.
This seems to be a rather draconian solution. Did the supervisors research how other Amish/English communities such as Lancaster County have addressed these issues. I can see a fair road use tax being implemented similar to the proposed Electric Vehicle road taxes proposed in the state, but several hundred dollar fines per person per incident just seems excessively punitive.
As to the droppings, I doubt that equine droppings are any more of a health hazard than road kill and I don’t see anyone getting exercised over forcing cleanup of that!
More Laws
We need another law that stops them from letting their horses crap all over the streets just leaving it there.
The Amish are some of the richest people in the state. They can easily afford to update their vehicles and farm equipment.
Coming from the plain community, using the reasoning that it goes against the plain Amish community’s religious belief,no longer works. Almost every single Amish person I know has a cell phone in Lancaster County. If that is a possibility, then so is updating your vehicles and paying to use the roads,just like we have to. The matter of the manure being left all over the road for others that choose not to have manure all over their vehicles should have been addressed years ago. The plain people in Ohio have had that rule in place for years. I’m not allowed to leave pieces of my car on the highway. The rules should apply to everyone the same. The cost of maintaining the roadways is climbing every year. Pennsylvania is 36th on the list of overall road conditions and cost effectiveness. We need to work to fix some of that.
Horse s#%t
Let’s not worry about the trash and car parts laying all over the roads LET’S WORRY ABOUT SOME HORSE S%#T YOU POLITICIANS ARE POS MUST BE LIBERALS RUNNING THESE TOWN!!! MAGA TRUMP 2028 .
Road cleanliness
If the Amish have to clean up the manure from their horses, ALL motorists on public roads should be responsible for cleaning up any roadkill they create, trash that blows out of their vehicle onto the road and those retreads from the trucks that REALLY damage the structure of the road surface.
Stop
Stop picking on a small minority. Can’t you people send your time and money on something more important? Time is money. Wasting taxpayer’s money on stupid attacks on people your will not understand!
Funny
Wasting taxpayers money????
They don’t pay taxes…the rest of us pay to clean up the roads.
Wake up Peggy Phariss.
Nothing against Amish , however I do believe that they should definitely clean up after their animals just as we all clean up our dog excretion
Steel wheels
You had better think this one over! Banning steel wheels is STUPID! Perhaps requiring rubber tires OVER the steel wheels would make more sense.
Many, many automobiles and trucks have steel wheels. But they have rubber tires. The language as I’m reading it would levy fines on any vehicle with steel wheels. Big lawsuit
Would be headed Bedford County’s way as is.
Banning metal wheels on buggies
Why is this not a law to be put in place across the board, the state.
I live in Lancaster near a large Amish community that is scattered among some towns. The ruts caused by the buggies are rather deep and of course the length of the roadway. No one tends to these ruts, they’re hardly ever filled in.
And why aren’t the buggies licensed like vehi cles are…they’re a moving transportation and do harm to the roads. Plus if a horse is down, limping or not well we could report it to the authorities. The animals here have no rights, the least we could do is speak for them.
Well....
Nothing wrong with putting tires on buggies, just makes sense. And yeah having a catch bag just for sanitation purposes isn’t a bad idea
Stop picking on amish
People are not seeing the big picture.Amish want to live life the way there folks did no crap from today’s people.you can’t make money off them.So you come up with ways steal from them a buggy dose not cause the damage a 80000 lbs truck will. My father was Amish and I was not but I understand how the Amish live .
Good
Good they should the Amish is a stain on America
A fair ordinance
The county will have to give everyone a steel-wheel and horse if they want one. Stops the disproportionality.
New Law for Amish
LEAVE THE PEOPLE ALONE. THAT HAS BEEN THAT WAY FOR YEARS OR GENERATIONS OR MAYBE EVEN CENTURIES. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE WANT TO CHANGE THE WAY THEY LIVE. HOW ABOUT WE CHANGE THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE.
City folks
Your dumb enough to put restrictions on the most land consious people in America? They feed you. Without farmers your a gonner in times of crisis.