Equestrian use of roadways

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Horse riders on the roadway in England Horse riders near Bristol, England, in 2015 arp.jpg
Horse riders on the roadway in England
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A variety of horse-related road signs from around the world.

The use of horses for transportation, either by horseback riding or by driving carriages and wagons on roads, was the primary form of transportation before the advent of automobiles in the late 19th century. [1] However, horses are still used for transport in many parts of the world, including places where certain sects such as the Amish reside. Horses are also ridden on the roads for pleasure, for example travelling from their stables to bridle paths and trails. Equestrians and motorists should take safety precautions to avoid serious accidents when sharing the roadways.

Contents

Amish communities

A typical Amish buggy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County Amish 03.jpg
A typical Amish buggy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Throughout history, transportation using horse-drawn vehicles has developed into a more modern realm, eventually becoming today's automobile. However, in certain areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania, horse and buggy is the main form of transportation. The Amish, Mennonite, and the Brethren community can be dated back to as early as the sixteenth century. In the eighteen hundreds, members of their conservative Christian faith fled Europe and began a new life in a small county in Pennsylvania called Lancaster. They are best known for their simple lifestyles, including having limited forms of electricity, living off the land, and having very conservative viewpoints on a number of topics. Many families have adapted to the modern age and now allow some forms of technology, as long as it does not interrupt or affect family time. [2] Amish are forbidden to own cars but are allowed to ride in them when needed. That is why the Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren populations use horse and buggy as their main mode of transportation. [3]

Accidents

Ohio and Pennsylvania both have large populations of Amish and Mennonite using horse-drawn buggies as their primary means of transportation. There are a significant number of buggy-motor vehicle collisions each year. The primary crash is during daylight on straight roadways with no adverse weather conditions. Most accidents are by locals to whom buggies are a common sight, rather than tourists who slow down with the novelty. The usual cause is "following too closely", resulting in a rear-end crash to the buggy. [4] One report said Pennsylvania and Ohio average 60 buggy/motor vehicle crashes per year, [5] another report said Ohio reports more than 120 buggy accidents a year. [6] Pennsylvania reported a high of 78 such crashes in 2006. [5]

Such accidents are often fatal to the carriage occupants, or involve serious injuries from having been struck or thrown from the carriage. Horses are often killed outright, or have to be euthanized after sustaining serious injuries. These accidents are costly—motor vehicles can be seriously damaged by hitting a large animal such as a horse, and buggies are usually demolished. [5] [4]

It doesn't take much for a motor vehicle crashing with a carriage to cause fatalities. In England, two men and the horse pulling a trap were declared dead at the scene of a collision with a Volkswagen Golf, a compact car. [7]

Riders are equally at risk. They can be struck by motor vehicles, [8] or be thrown from their horse which was spooked by a motorcycle or vehicles passing too closely. [9]

Safety precautions

Visibility

High visibility wear for street riders and their horses Mounted Police in Riot Gear.jpg
High visibility wear for street riders and their horses

Riders should wear high-visibility clothing to make themselves more visible to high speed motor traffic—fluorescent colors for daytime, and reflective strips for night time visibility. [10] [11] Horses should also be outfitted with hi-vis, which might include a fluorescent cloth on the rear and reflective strips around the legs or tail. [11]

Slow moving vehicle emblem Slow moving vehicle.svg
Slow moving vehicle emblem

In the United States and Canada, regulations require that all vehicles on roadways that cannot reach a speed of 25 mph or 40 kph must display a slow moving vehicle sign. This includes horse drawn vehicles. There are a few exceptions made for religious beliefs that prohibit bright colors, and in some cases white-and-gray reflector schemes are permitted instead of the usual red-and-orange. [4] [12] [13]

Carriages and buggies on the streets at night should have reflectors and lights to avoid being struck from behind. It is recommended that frequent users of the road during night hours, such as Amish buggies, should add battery-operated flashing lights (red to the rear, and white strobe lights on top of buggies), and reflective leg and neck wraps for their horses. In hilly areas where roads undulate, adding a tall bicycle flag is a good idea. [4]

Riding or driving a horse on the roads is best done during daylight and in fair weather to avoid low visibility conditions.

Protective equipment

When riding over hard surfaces, such as streets, riders should wear a helmet and a body protector vest or even an air bag vest to reduce injuries during a fall. [10] [11] In some cases, horses should wear leg protection. In icy conditions, horse shoes might be fitted with studs or caulkins.

Riding or driving on the road

If a horse is unfamiliar with riding on roads, avoiding roads altogether is a safe practice. Horses can be spooked fairly easily, and to minimize horses becoming panicked during a ride, avoiding a busy roadway is a good safety precaution to take. However, if it is necessary to ride on the roadway or cross a roadway, having a more experienced company can be helpful. Riding single file, as well as crossing major roadways in a group increases visibility for oncoming motorists. Although horses are rather large animals, from a far distance it is easier to see a number of horses rather than just one.

Riders should walk rather than go in a faster gait on roadways that are hard and smooth, such as asphalt. Higher speeds lead to a greater risk of the horse slipping or falling with the rider. [14]

Motorists

A horse travelling on the road is probably going about 5 to 8 miles per hour (8–13 kph), not much faster than a pedestrian. Motorists encountering horses on the roadway should immediately slow down. A car traveling 55 mph (88 kph) can close a 500-foot (150-metre) gap on a horse in just 6.5 seconds. Riders and drivers may not see motor vehicles behind them, and they may be unable to move out of the way due to deep ditches or other edge-of-road hazards. Motorists should not blow their horn anywhere near a horse. Horses are prey animals that may spook at sounds or strange sights and might jump towards traffic, so when passing a horse, motorists should do so slowly and leave a wide berth around the horse. A collision with a horse can have serious consequences to the motor vehicle, its occupants, as well as the horse and rider or carriage. [6] [4] [10] [15]

Laws

As a rule of thumb, around the world riders are generally allowed where pedestrians are permitted, and carriages are allowed wherever wheeled slow moving vehicles are permitted. Riders and drivers are generally not permitted on limited-access roads where motor traffic is expected to be travelling very fast. Carriages are treated as "vehicles" and should travel in the same direction as motor traffic, but at the far edge of the road due to their slow speeds. [16]

The state of New York has regulations for the use of horses on the road—both being ridden upon [17] and being horse-driven vehicles.[ citation needed ] Some regulations only allow passing the horse-driven vehicle or horseback rider when it is safe to do so and prohibiting the use of any form of noise, such as a horn. [18]

Reflectors at the rear of a horse-drawn vehicle must be visible from 500 feet when illuminated by the lower beams of headlamps of a motor vehicle. [4]

Mitigation efforts by government

Ohio's Amish population is the largest in the world. In 2000, Ohio published the findings of a comprehensive study of the issue of buggy-vehicle crashes. Interviewing the Amish communities, motor vehicle drivers, and other stakeholders, they came up with a series of recommendations to help reduce crashes. Among the recommendations were: widen road shoulders to 8 feet (especially after the cresting of a hill), add pull-off lanes for buggies to allow vehicles to pass, construct separate buggy trails, increase bus service to Amish communities, set a minimum age for buggy operators, develop driver education courses for Amish buggy drivers (in cooperation with the Amish School Board), add buggy awareness to the youth motor driving curriculum, and run public information campaigns to address sharing the roadway. [4] [5] Another concern was identification of victims in a crash (buggy operator and passengers), as Amish don't routinely carry government issued identification and their vehicles don't carry license plates. Ohio and the Amish communities were reportedly working on solving that.

Ohio also proposed an Amish Buggy Warning Detection System in 2000. The system would mount flashing lights on road signs warning motorists to be aware of a buggy ahead. The lights would be set off by the passing of a buggy containing a non-electric pod which would trip the detectors, and the lights would stop flashing after a predetermined time. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road traffic safety</span> Methods and measures for reducing the risk of death and injury on roads

Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, and passengers of on-road public transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buggy (carriage)</span> Two or four wheeled convertible carriage

A buggy refers to a lightweight four-wheeled carriage, drawn by a single horse, though occasionally by two. Amish buggies are still regularly in use on the roadways of America. The word "buggy" has become a generic term for "carriage" in America.

Old Order Mennonites form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, still drive a horse and buggy rather than cars, wear very conservative and modest dress, and have retained the old forms of worship, baptism and communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rumble strip</span> Road safety feature

Rumble strips are a road safety feature to alert inattentive drivers of potential danger, by causing a tactile fuzzy vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through the wheels into the vehicle interior. A rumble strip is applied along the direction of travel following an edgeline or centerline, to alert drivers when they drift from their lane. Rumble strips may also be installed in a series across the direction of travel, to warn drivers of a stop or slowdown ahead, or of an approaching danger spot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bicycle law in California</span>

Bicycle law in California is the parts of the California Vehicle Code that set out the law for persons cycling in California, and a subset of bicycle law in the United States. In general, pretty much all the same rights and responsibilities that apply to car drivers apply to bicycle riders as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicular cycling</span> Practice of riding bicycles on roads while obeying roadway rules

Vehicular cycling is the practice of riding bicycles on roads in a manner that is in accordance with the principles for driving in traffic, and in a way that places responsibility for safety on the individual.

A wide outside lane (WOL) or wide curb lane (WCL) is an outermost lane of a roadway that is wide enough to be safely shared side by side by a bicycle and a wider motor vehicle at the same time. The terms are used by cyclists and bicycle transportation planners in the United States. Generally, the minimum-width standard for a WOL in the US is 14 feet. A wide outside through lane (WOTL) is a WOL that is intended for use by through traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bicycle safety</span> Safety practices to reduce risk associated with cycling

Bicycle safety is the use of road traffic safety practices to reduce risk associated with cycling. Risk can be defined as the number of incidents occurring for a given amount of cycling. Some of this subject matter is hotly debated: for example, which types of cycling environment or cycling infrastructure is safest for cyclists. The merits of obeying the traffic laws and using bicycle lighting at night are less controversial. Wearing a bicycle helmet may reduce the chance of head injury in the event of a crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safety reflector</span> Safety item that reflects light

A safety reflector is a retroreflector intended for pedestrians, runners, motorized and non-motorized vehicles. A safety reflector is similar to reflective stripes that can be found on safety vests and clothing worn by road workers and rescue workers. They are sometimes erroneously called luminous badges or luminous tags, but this is incorrect as they do not themselves produce light, but only reflect it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cycle track</span> Cycleway between a road and sidewalk, protected by barriers

A cycle track or cycleway (British) or bikeway, sometimes historically referred to as a sidepath, is a separate route for cycles and not motor vehicles. In some cases cycle tracks are also used by other users such as pedestrians and horse riders. A cycle track can be next to a normal road, and can either be a shared route with pedestrians or be made distinct from both the pavement and general roadway by vertical barriers or elevation differences.

Bicycle law in the United States is the law of the United States that regulates the use of bicycles. Although bicycle law is a relatively new specialty within the law, first appearing in the late 1980s, its roots date back to the 1880s and 1890s, when cyclists were using the courts to assert a legal right to use the roads. In 1895, George B. Clementson, an American attorney, wrote The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen, the first book on bicycle law, in which he discussed the seminal cases of the 1880s and 1890s, which were financed by Albert Pope of Columbia Bicycles, and through which cyclists gained the right to the road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church</span>

The Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church, also called Wenger Mennonites, is the largest Old Order Mennonite group to use horse-drawn carriages for transportation. Along with the automobile, they reject many modern conveniences, while allowing electricity in their homes and steel-wheeled tractors to till the fields. Initially concentrated in eastern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, their numbers had grown to 22,305 people resided in eight other states as of 2015. They share the pulpit with the Ontario Mennonite Conference but have some differences in Ordnung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traffic collision</span> Incident when a vehicle collides with another object

A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Traffic collisions often result in injury, disability, death, and property damage as well as financial costs to both society and the individuals involved. Road transport is the most dangerous situation people deal with on a daily basis, but casualty figures from such incidents attract less media attention than other, less frequent types of tragedy. The commonly used term car accident is increasingly falling out of favor with many government departments and organizations, with the Associated Press style guide recommending caution before using the term. Some collisions are intentional vehicle-ramming attacks, staged crashes, vehicular homicide or vehicular suicide.

The Swartzentruber Amish are the best-known and one of the largest and most conservative subgroups of Old Order Amish. Swartzentruber Amish are considered a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, although they do not fellowship or intermarry with more liberal Old Order Amish. They speak Pennsylvania German as their mother tongue as well as English.

Cycling in Illinois encompasses recreation, bikeways, laws and rules, and advocacy. The director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Joel Brunsvold, explained Illinois cycling opportunities: “Bicycle riding is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in Illinois, enjoyed by young and old alike...Illinois has a variety of trails for the public to enjoy. The terrain includes flat prairie land to rolling hills, towering bluffs to the breathtaking river and lakefront views.” Many communities across the state are updating bicycle infrastructure in order to accommodate the increased number of cyclists on the roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road debris</span> Road hazard

Road debris, a form of road hazard, is debris on or off a road. Road debris includes substances, materials, and objects that are foreign to the normal roadway environment. Debris may be produced by vehicular or non-vehicular sources, but in all cases it is considered litter, a form of solid waste. Debris may tend to collect in areas where vehicles do not drive, such as on the edges (shoulder), around traffic islands, and junctions.

In legal terminology, the assured clear distance ahead (ACDA) is the distance ahead of any terrestrial locomotive device such as a land vehicle, typically an automobile, or watercraft, within which they should be able to bring the device to a halt. It is one of the most fundamental principles governing ordinary care and the duty of care for all methods of conveyance, and is frequently used to determine if a driver is in proper control and is a nearly universally implicit consideration in vehicular accident liability. The rule is a precautionary trivial burden required to avert the great probable gravity of precious life loss and momentous damage. Satisfying the ACDA rule is necessary but not sufficient to comply with the more generalized basic speed law, and accordingly, it may be used as both a layman's criterion and judicial test for courts to use in determining if a particular speed is negligent, but not to prove it is safe. As a spatial standard of care, it also serves as required explicit and fair notice of prohibited conduct so unsafe speed laws are not void for vagueness. The concept has transcended into accident reconstruction and engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protected intersection</span> At-grade road junction in which cyclists and pedestrians are separated from cars

A protected intersection or protected junction, also known as a Dutch-style junction, is a type of at-grade road junction in which cyclists and pedestrians are separated from cars. The primary aim of junction protection is to help pedestrians and cyclists be and feel safer at road junctions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safety of cycling infrastructure</span> Overview of bicycle safety concerns

There is debate over the safety implications of cycling infrastructure. Recent studies generally affirm that segregated cycle tracks have a better safety record between intersections than cycling on major roads in traffic. Furthermore, cycling infrastructure tends to lead to more people cycling. A higher modal share of people cycling is correlated with lower incidences of cyclist fatalities, leading to a "safety in numbers" effect though some contributors caution against this hypothesis. On the contrary, older studies tended to come to negative conclusions about mid-block cycle track safety.

The death of Elaine Herzberg was the first recorded case of a pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car, after a collision that occurred late in the evening of March 18, 2018. Herzberg was pushing a bicycle across a four-lane road in Tempe, Arizona, United States, when she was struck by an Uber test vehicle, which was operating in self-drive mode with a human safety backup driver sitting in the driving seat. Herzberg was taken to the local hospital where she died of her injuries.

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