The "Road Apples & Other Crap" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just pulled into the garage at home and got out of the car.  Then, it hit me!  The smell of manure.  If you live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as I have done all my life, you are bound to have the experience of having horse manure on your tires at sometime in your life.  Why?  Because of the large Amish community in Lancaster County.  Today there are over 25 different Amish, Mennonite and Brethren church groups in Lancaster County, all holding to slightly different traditions and their own interpretations of the Bible.  The more traditional groups are called "old order."  They do not permit electricity or telephones in their homes.  Actually, Lancaster County has the world's largest Amish settlement, with over 35,000 people.  And, they don't own motorized vehicles.  They farm with four-legged animals as well as travel around the county with horse-drawn buggies, thus the large amount of manure or "road apples" on the county roads.  

Amish family in an open buggy.

In Lancaster, and all of Pennsyl- vania, the Amish do not need to have a license plate on their buggies while all other living in the county need one.  The Amish use the same roads that all others use, but pay no transportation fees such as the fee from the sale of license plates.  The horses shoes as well as the metal bands around the wheels of their buggies do damage to the macadam and concrete roadways.  And...the horses' poop lands on the road as they travel the roads of Lancaster County.  Many have wondered for years and years why they can't pick up after themselves or have a leather shield on the rear of the horse that would do that for them.  A few years ago the county census of farm animals found that there were over 16,000 horses in Lancaster County.  That's a lot of poop on the roads!  I realize that all aren't used to pull buggies, but many of them are.  Someone recently wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper asking just that question.  About 120 years ago everyone traveled by horse to where they were going and no one cleaned up after themselves.  Now there are fewer that travel by horse and it seems there is no "legal" tradition for cleaning up after their horses.  Actually, besides smelling awful, there is really no danger in horse manure.  

When a horse has to poop, they do so.  If it just
happens to be along a road, that's where it poops.

The dung carries no parasites like dog and cat poop.  So, the manure that results from horse travel really isn't dangerous; just smelly.  There is one exception in the city of Lancaster where the mounted police will notify the city street's department when one of their horses poops on the street so they can come and clean it up.  That is a different situation than Amish buggies on county roads.  Many stores and establishments in the county have a place for buggies to be parked when the driver is shopping.  At our local Costco store there is a covered parking area for the horses with a can and shovel to be used if needed.  Do the Amish use the shovels?  I have never seen one do so, but that doesn't mean they don't.  As of now there are no laws that will compel Amish buggy drivers to clean up the poop.  Will it ever happen?  I can't see it happening, since I don't see it as a big problem.  At least to me.  Yeah, I had to pull my car out of the garage and wash off my wheel, but that's no big deal.  I would rather have a few piles of dung on the road than all the trash that everyone else throws out their car windows.  Now, you may be wondering if there are any laws or rules that the Amish must abide by while on the road.  

Look safe to you?  Me neither!

You must be 14 or over to drive a buggy on a public roadway.  Buggies do not have to have seat belts in them.  Buggies do not need to be registered with the state or county and therefore do not need a license plate.  The buggy driver is not required to have insurance, but if they have an accident are liable of the damages done to whatever they collide with in the accident.  And, passengers in the buggy are not required to be seated, therefore they can stand on a running board or hang out the back of the buggy if they care to do so.  Over the years there have been a few deaths due to buggy crashes in the county.  I would much rather be in an automobile than a buggy in a crash.  As I write this there is a bill in the state government that has been offered that would require Amish buggies to have license plates.  Will it ever pass?  My guess is NO!  I for one wouldn't trust driving on the busy highways in Lancaster County.  The least we can do is allow them to drive with the traffic without a license plate.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.