The Swartzentruber Amish are suing to overturn Ohio’s new traffic law that requires animal-drawn buggies to have yellow flashing lights. They say the law violates the First Amendment, which protects their religious expression.
Swartzentruber’s order, which sought legal assistance from Harvard University Law School’s Religious Freedom Clinic, charges to block enforcement of the law.
Since lawmakers passed the ordinance in June 2022, more than 200 citations have been issued to Amish buggy drivers. The law change came after a statewide study found that there had been 723 buggy accidents over a 10-year period, including 15 involving fatalities.
In Ohio, millions of drivers share the roads with more than 76,000 Amish and Mennonite travelers, mostly in Ashland, Wayne and Holmes counties. The black horse-drawn buggies travel at a speed of less than 10 miles per hour, while cars and trucks travel much faster.
Swartzentruber Amish are a conservative subgroup of Amish that formed in Holmes County more than a century ago. They are more restrictive about what technologies can be used than the progressive Amish. They use reflective tape and oil lanterns on their black buggies, but avoid battery-powered lights.
According to their religious beliefs, Swartzentruber Amish believe that they should avoid showy behavior and reject confidence in worldly matters.
State law requires them to choose between following the law or their faith, according to the lawsuit filed in Hardin County Common Pleas Court in August. If they do not comply with the law, they will be subject to misdemeanor charges, ticket fees, court costs, confiscation of their buggies and property rights.
Last week, the Hardin County Common Pleas Court issued a temporary restraining order, said Cory Anderson, a sociologist who studies Amish communities and worked on the case.
Before the legislation was signed into law, the Ohio Legislative Service Commission noted that it could raise First Amendment issues.
Some Swartzentruber Amish feel attacked.
Buggy drivers said in lawsuits that officers waited outside a Swartzentrubers church service in Belmont County and wrote a dozen tickets to drivers as they returned home in their buggies, and in October 2022, state troopers waited outside the Ashland County Municipal Court, where Swartzentrubers appeared to respond on previous tickets and gave them more citations.
The state’s road safety survey found that most buggy accidents occur in daylight and clear weather. The study attributed crashes to distracted driving, poor sight lines, speed differences and other factors.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations in Ohio.
This article originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch: Amish sect and Harvard Law challenge Ohio’s buggy light law
