Kentucky's Amish say they can't drive ... 25!

Odd story out of Kentucky. A sect of the state's Amish population is opting for jail terms (a week or so) rather than pay a $158 fine for not using an orange safety triangle on their slow-moving buggies. The Amish are refusing on religious grounds, and trying to take the case to the state supreme court.
The judge who ruled on the latest case is quoted in the story as saying there's 44 of these cases backlogged in the system. The local jail has even ordered some dark prison jumpsuits instead of orange to keep in line with the Amish beliefs. Apparently, one of the sect's big issues is using anything with bright colors.
Personally, I think they're just angling to form one kick-ass prison gang.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110912/NEWS01/309120084/Amish-men-ordered-jail-buggy-safety-case?

 

Aw shit, gotta round up some bail money again.

 

We have big Amish (Mennonite) communities up here and their beliefs vary from the very conservative, like those cited in the story to the progressive ones who allow automobiles as long as they're black and all the chrome is removed.

I can't comment on this story because US laws are different than Canadian but no court up here would ever fine an Old School Mennonite for not displaying the orange triangle.

 

If I had a dollar for every Amish buggy I've seen without that orange triangle, I'd be a rich man.

 

There was a sect of Anabaptists (possibly Amish) in western Pennsylvania a number of years ago that fought a similar law. I believe it was up in Erie or thereabouts.

 

Based on the story, it didn't seem like the judge was real eager to punish these guys.
Common sense tells me you ought to be able to dodge an Amish buggy pretty easily during the day, orange triangle or no. It's not like they're cruising down the interstate. But what about at night? Do the Amish often travel after dark or do they pack it in at sunset?

 

They do sometimes travel after dark, which is why those reflectors are needed.

It's scary when you're driving at night down a two-lane road with a 45 mph speed limit and you close quick on a buggy you barely know is there.

 

This. My parents live out in BFE Kentucky, and to get to their house I have to drive 45-50 minutes from the interstate on two-lane roads. Twisty, turny two-lane roads. And the Amish live in one section of that, and I've come up on one coming around a turn and have had to cut into the other lane, which is not really a good option either.

 

I'll just say that their reasoning for not paying fines can't be allowed. It would set the president that if a law goes against your religion you are free to break the law.

 

Set Obama what?

 

Wonder what Weird Al Yankovic would have to say?

 

This is a safety issue, pure and simple. Having driven around Amish country in Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio, it is incredibly dangerous to come up on a buggy at night.

Even with a reflector, on a major highway, you close in on those buggies fast.