In response to the state's recent conflicts between state safety regulations and Amish religious beliefs, the Kentucky legislature passed a bill yesterday that allows white tape on the back of a horse-drawn buggy to satisfy vehicle safety requirements. Over the last year, several Amish residents of the state have been convicted and even imprisoned over their refusal to place bright orange reflectors on buggies, due to religious beliefs. This legislation would accommodate Amish concerns and potentially ends the current spate of arrests.

The question is whether the accommodation will jeopardize public safety.

In Amish communities nationwide, fatal collisions between automobiles and buggies aren't uncommon. The most recent one in Kentucky involved a SUV that crashed into the back of a buggy in Cub Run last November, killing the 18-year-old Amish driver, according to authorities. Several months earlier, officials reported, a tractor-trailer ran into the back of buggy near Hopkinsville, killing an Amish child and injuring three others.

Sen. Ken Winters, R-Murray, said he considered the final passage of the bill a victory for religious liberty.

"We've been able to accommodate a major issue in their lives," said Winters, a retired Baptist college president who represents a growing Amish community in his mostly rural western Kentucky district.
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Winters said tests have proven that the reflective tape makes the buggies visible up to 1,000 feet away.