Popular Mechanics:
Despite what you heard, the Amish aren’t against technology. Communities adopt new gadgets such as fax machines and business-use cell phones all the time—so long as the local church approves each one ahead of time, determining that it won’t drastically change their way of life.
So it is with the Amish horse-drawn buggy. You might have thought the technology inside this 1800s method of transportation stopped progressing right around then. Instead, buggy tech keeps advancing, and buggy makers have become electricians and metalworkers to build in all the new tech you can’t see under the traditional black paint.
As a Nova Scotianer, I’d never seen an Amish buggy until, while riding my motorcycle through Pennsylvania, I came through a curve and saw a large pile of “dirt” in the middle of my line. Rear tire hit the dirt and squirted out from under me. Freaked me out. I looked behind me and realized it wasn’t dirt but horse manure. As I got ready for the next curve, I thought, “Where the hell did that come from?” Looking through the curve ahead, I saw the buggy in the road and literally laughed out loud. I slowed and came up behind the buggy and saw two small children in the back, facing rearward. It was a “buggy station wagon”! The kids waved to me, I waved back and then passed the buggy, still laughing inside my helmet.
This came up in my news feed and it says what I have found personally about the Amish and their buggies for some years now. It depends on
which area and which groups the particular Amish are in. The church districts around Northern Indiana have many members who work in both RV factories and also in their own workshops… ones that use power and are high tech in themselves, i.e., utilizing laser metal cutting and
explosive cartridge saw blade brakes among other things.
Their buggies near here, at least, also incorporate relatively high tech
advancements such as hydraulic brakes, turns signals, rear-view mirrors and LED lights. Knowing of this local tech-friendly proclivity, I approached one nearby community’s safety committee with an agricultural safety improvement that I thought they might consider. Though as a rule the Amish avoid what is flashy or excessively worldly, I thought that perhaps they might make an exception for something decidedly flashy that might save some of their lives in circumstances that could result in rear-end collisions… something that is unfortunately a relatively common occurrence throughout the country.
My innovation, the “Tri-Color Triangle,” is an improvement upon the
standard Slow-Moving Vehicle emblem that was developed initially for agriculture use but is also used by most (but not all) Amish buggies, providing at least a modicum of protection by day and by night. The standard emblems are strictly fluorescent orange (when they’re not faded or just orange plastic) in the center triangle part and “reflective” (actually Retro-Reflective) in the red strips surrounding the triangle. My innovation upgraded the center to reflective also and added fluorescent-reflective “safety” yellow-green wide strips around the standard red strips… the whole emblem now being bigger and reflective, with the extra color standing out much better than the old orange.
To my pleasant surprise, the Nappanee district (among others) has seen fit to allow this new, flashy improvement to buggies in the interest of helping to prevent rear-end collisions. The display and sale of this new triangle at their annual Safety Day, and then the recent Horse Progress Days in Howe this Summer has helped to spread the awareness and adoption of this innovation throughout more of the country. Sometimes when lives are at stake, even nominally-simple and plain, under the
radar-living Amish are willing to make compromises and adopt certain gaudy “English” products and ways.
Though the engineering organization (ASABE, of which I’m a member) that sets the standards for the SMV emblem has had an apparently-political and recently-backwards and inexplicably unfavorable view on this innovation this past year (and this, after awarding this T-C T one of their products of the year), the Amish, through their religious exemptions, are still able to take full advantage of a simple, logical safety advance that is undoubtedly saving a number of their members’ lives. Further reading and videos on this safety breakthrough, for any that are interested, is at http://www.safetypsychographics.com .
The animal rescue racket is just as responsible for puppy mills.
BTW, I know several Ams who breed dogs; none have a “puppy mill.” All have a couple dogs and produce nice puppies. Stereotyping the Amish is no different than stereotyping any other ethnic group, and just as offensive.