Ohio
has the largest Amish population in the United States. Unfortunately,
the Ohio Department of Public Safety reports a relatively
high incidence of accidents involving horse-drawn and motor
vehicles. Annually over 120 accidents occur, resulting in
often devastating property damage, injury and death. Through
a multidisciplinary cooperative effort involving members of
an Amish advisory committee, Ohio State University Extension
Agents, Safety Specialists and an Agricultural Engineer, the
project has identified alternative safety lighting and marking
of Amish horse-drawn vehicles. Research constraints required
that the prototype lighting and marking be effective, but
also did not compromise Amish religious and cultural beliefs.
This was accomplished by allowing key Amish leaders to play
an active role in the development and testing of new lighting
and marking innovations through team meetings and comparison
testing. Based upon recommendations by the Amish advisory
committee and cutting-edge safety and lighting research, various
types of marking materials, Slow Moving Vehicle (SMV) emblem
, front and rear lighting, strobes and beacon lighting were
evaluated for safety effectiveness and acceptability by the
Amish general public. This paper will discuss the results
of this comparison testing and describe the final recommendations
for lighting and marking of Amish horse-drawn buggies.
This research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
L.K. Isaacs and T.L. Bean, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
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