New Wilmington Amish Adding Buggy Light For Safety
For now, you might want to read “Some” at the beginning of this post’s headline – because this is apparently not widespread yet.
But a reader has let me know that Amish in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania have begun adding an additional light to their buggies, which should help with visibility.
This is a pretty traditional community, though not as conservative as some. They do already use the SMV triangle and other lighting, as you can see in this photo by Don Burke:
However, it seems at least some have begun taking it a step further. Our anonymous reader shares the following:
The attached photo [below] was taken on December 30th. We were shocked to see an Amish buggy with a bright light on top! This is certainly going to save many lives. It is long overdue, but finally the community leaders seem to have decided to make their buggies more visible to drivers. It is a flashing light.
Not everyone has them yet, but at least one other person that we’ve spoken with has seen a buggy with a light. Someone mentioned a recent accident where a woman was killed. I do wish they’d made this decision before my friend died when he was thrown from his buggy last summer.
I don’t know if the lights are mandatory or optional, but I thank God that some people are now using them!
According to the latest PA DOT Horse and Buggy Driver’s Manual, “Pennsylvania state law requires that four-way flashers be used on all horse drawn buggies for nighttime driving. This means that a flashing amber (yellow) light must be visible from the front of the buggy and a flashing red light from the rear of the buggy.”
So this particular lighting is not required by PA state law. Amish in other communities have also added flashing lights at the top of the buggy frame. The best-known, albeit controversial, example would be the Ohio statewide mandate which became law in 2023.
Here are some photos courtesy of our reader of the new lighting on a New Wilmington buggy.
