Yes – Amish Buggies DO Have To Stop At Stop Signs…

Maybe you’ve seen it as well – an Amish buggy blowing through a stop sign.

A woman named Katrina recently noticed just that – in fact, she witnessed two Amish buggies running stop signs in her Missouri community.

So she submitted a simple question to a local news station: “Are Amish buggies required to follow the laws of the road?”

Here’s the reporting from station KY3:

The operators of those buggies have responsibilities, too. They don’t need a license to drive the buggies. But they do need to follow the basic rules of the road.

“Those traffic laws apply to anybody utilizing the highways,” explained Corporal Sam Carpenter of The Missouri State Highway Patrol.

“Whether you’re on foot, bicycle, Amish buggy, anything. The road signs, they apply. The driving on the correct side of the road that applies. You know, all those rules apply.”

So there’s no exemption from these rules, and if a driver of a buggy violates them, they can be ticketed just like you or I can.

And that goes for other laws as well – including, for example, DUI. Indeed, there have been cases of Amish drivers getting charged with DUI offenses while driving under the influence of alcohol (and for that matter, some communities have demonstrated a bad track record of it).

The License Question

The big “gray area” mentioned in the station’s response is the fact that buggy operators don’t need a license, or to pass a formal course to be able to drive buggies.

This is why you see children 10 years old or even younger driving buggies (or pony carts for the youngest) on the roads. Amish children typically learn how to handle a buggy from their father while riding together.

The age topic has long been an issue; here is an excerpt from a 2012 post on the topic, which I wrote after a news station discovered children as young as 10 driving buggies in northeastern Indiana:

If you’ve spent time in Amish communities, that shouldn’t come as a big shock. Amish children learn to drive horse-drawn vehicles from a young age. You’ll even find Amish children younger than 10 piloting pony carts–I’d guess 7 or 8 years old is not unusual for that particular vehicle, though they’re usually not riding on 55-mph highways.

I can understand why it might be unnerving to see children so young operating a vehicle on the road.

Of course, children of all cultures regularly walk rural roads, ride bicycles in the vicinity of traffic, and so on. Buggies are more visible than youngsters rollerblading or on scooters. That said I’m pretty sure there are Amish parents who’d consider 10 too young.

A horse may be well trained but can still behave unpredictably. Factors like road traffic and a child’s experience enter the equation. A busy highway in Lancaster County is not the same as a gravel back road in Adams County, Indiana.

At one time I thought there might be some push to try to require licensing. You still see calls for it from time to time. However I’m not aware of any state or jurisdiction that has made this a requirement.

Buggies Running Stop Signs Have Led To Accidents

But back to what triggered this topic: buggies running stop signs. It does happen, as Katrina from Missouri saw with her own eyes. Amish drivers may see no need to come to a full stop at every stop sign…just like many non-Amish car drivers.

Context matters of course. If it’s a flat rural area where a person can see for miles in every direction, that’s one thing. But it goes without saying that blowing through stop signs in busy areas is a reckless practice.

And on that note, unfortunately there have been accidents – some quite serious – where a buggy failed to stop, leading to a wreck.

For example, this 2020 crash in Hardin County, Ohio, where the Amish driver failed to stop at a sign and pulled out onto a state route, and ended up being hit by two cars.

Or, this wreck the same year which claimed three Amish children’s lives in Lancaster County. Something similar happened the following year in Cattaraugus County, New York (though without any reported fatalities).

Children were driving in at least two of those incidents (likely both teens).

The Amish Can Be At Fault Too

Though many tend to instinctively take the side of the Amish when there are buggy-car crashes, it certainly does happen that Amish drivers can be at fault in them too.

Some Amish people commit traffic violations, and the idea that car drivers are always to blame is nonsense.

Amish are generally responsible drivers of their buggies. But some Amish people break laws on the road too, and can do unsafe things while holding the reigns – even if they’re limited to a single horsepower.

So, don’t assume that a buggy approaching a stop sign is always going to stop. Defensive driving is never a bad idea.