Amish men jailed for not displaying buggy (orange-red triangle) safety signs

Yahoo ^ | 9/14/11 | Steve Robrahn

[Persevero]

“or not take their horse or carriages out after dark.”

an excellent solution if their consciences are so offended.

[Persevero]

“Don’t want to be in public, wear that star on your sleeve....good Nazi.”

This kind of hyperbole is beneath FR.

Being required to have a reflective sign on a dark vehicle in the dead of night is hardly equivalent to having to wear a star signifying you are a Jew so you can be abused.

[Smokin' Joe]

So why doesn’t someone simply come up with a reflective device that does not appear bright until the light hits it. I have seen grayish ones used on clothing in the oil patch. Is the orange part really necessary?

[runninglips]

No they don’t want them in ovens, they want them to conform....like every other supposed free man in this country. Do they make bicycles have orange triangles? Walkers? The first step to perdition, is giving in to a “little common sense” govt regulation. License plates were for our protection too, then tabs, then yearly taxes, then for thefts, then for cops to access 24/7 info on owners at the touch of a button. Sorry, society is so far past just a little regulation, and it starts ever so small.

[Winstons Julia]

The Amish should invent that and build factories to .... oh wait......

[crazyhorse691]

Nothing in the article says anything about it being night-time terrorism...farming country usually requires those funny little signs to be used on highways for all agricultural vehicles...horses on the highway are not required to display them as far as I know...but, non-motorized regs vary from state to state.

[Winstons Julia]

*sigh*

Do we really need to spell this out for you? The carriages are using the roads at night.

Maybe you should go Amish.....

[srweaver]

Nice to see someone actually gets it.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Would Amish be copacetic with mounting kerosene lanterns on the back of their buggies? That would solve the nighttime visibility problem.

[Winstons Julia]

I really don’t know. I think someone upthread said that they do that... but the flame is low and not too visible.

[Iron Munro]

[BIGLOOK]

Scofflaws!

[Smokin' Joe]

I'm not sure it needs to be invented, only adapted and allowed as a substitute for the bright orance device.

If getting reflective surfaces on the buggy to enhance visibility at night is the issue, it might be a solution.

Of course, the State would have to accept that the absence of orange really has little effect on seeing the buggy in daylight, and the Amish would have to accept something which though it did not appear as wordly, would enhance their safety and that of the vehicles which might hit them.

It's never simple, but it could be simpler.

It might be simpler yet if someone could devise a reflective surface which appeared to be black in daylight.

[Smokin' Joe]

Maybe, but the gray strips on the sides and the bottom of the back of the buggy look a lot like the Scotchlite strips We had on Fire Dept. turnout gear and have on oilfield coveralls.

Would an orange triangle make that vehicle more visible? Really?

[wolfman]

Thank goodness it didn’t escalate into a rake fight.

[Winstons Julia]

Really... the appearance of the horse apples on the road ought to tell an aware driver that there might be Amish ahead...

But that would require...

#attackwatch - AMISH AHEAD.

[Smokin' Joe]

There are those of us who know enough to identify various deposits on the road and take a cue from that, but anyone who needs an orange triangle to tell them a vehicle is moving slowly probably doesn’t know their s**t well enough to take advantage of the obvious trail.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Do the Amish shun as too modern the thorium mantles which make kerosene lamps much brighter?

[Da Mav]

This is no more offensive than expecting people to stop at red lights when driving. Trying to turn this into some kind of romanticized police state issue is childish. Anyone living in Amish country who drives understands the problem from personal experience. And the vast majority of Amish comply with the basic safety requirements.

[HiTech RedNeck]

One could complain this is double trouble. Not only could a car driver come suddenly upon a buggy, but the manure slick behind it would make it harder for the car to stop in time.