The Amish sect says using the gray reflective tape better reflects their beliefs.
The Amish sect says using the gray reflective tape better reflects their beliefs.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A conservative Amish sect that believes orange reflective triangles are too gaudy and an affront to its beliefs doesn't have to use the markers on its buggies, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled.
The Swartzentruber Amish, a small Cambria County sect that moved from Ohio a few years ago and is more conservative than most other Amish groups, prefer to use a gray reflective tape because it is more in keeping with their beliefs.
The group asked the court to throw out 27 convictions against 20 sect members who were ticketed by police for not using the triangles, which the state requires on all slow-moving vehicles. The Amish say the tape is as effective as the triangles -- although state transportation officials dispute that.
The 2-1 decision isn't likely to affect other Amish groups or other people who raise questions about state intrusions into religious liberties, said Donna Doblick, the private attorney who represented the Amish for free along with the American Civil Liberties Union. That's because the Superior Court judges based their decisions on different laws, so the opinion isn't precedent-setting, she said.
Because the state "produced no evidence to demonstrate the frequency or cause of rear-end collisions between other vehicles and buggies," the state didn't prove that it had a compelling reason to require the triangles on the back of buggies, Superior Court Judges Justin M. Johnson and Richard B. Klein ruled Monday.
Even if the state had proven that the triangles would improve public safety, the state failed to prove there was no "less restrictive" way to safeguard the buggies that might not have offended the Swartzentruber Amish, the judges said.
Although they agreed, Judge Johnson based his decision on the Pennsylvania Constitution, while Judge Klein said the state violated the U.S. Constitution.
PennDOT officials didn't immediately comment on the decision Tuesday.
David Kaltenbaugh, Cambria County prosecutor who handled the Superior Court appeal, also didn't immediately return calls.
The decision stems from the appeal of a June 2002 ruling by Cambria County Judge Timothy Creany that the Amish should be fined $95 each for the tickets. A month before, Creany had listened to expert witnesses from both sides before he ruled that Pennsylvania had a "compelling" public safety interest in mandating the triangles.
Both the state and the Amish had put experts on the stand who testified that the reflective tape is more easily seen at night and that the triangles are more visible during the day.
Citing statistics that more than 60 percent of vehicle-buggy accidents occur during the day, Judge Creany ruled that the state had proved the triangles were the best emblem to mark the buggies in most circumstances and -- therefore -- the least restrictive remedy.
Doblick and the ACLU argued that the state didn't prove whether buggy visibility contributed to those crashes, therefore the state didn't have a compelling reason to mandate the triangles.
Senior Superior Court Judge Zoran Popovich essentially agreed with Judge Creany in his dissent.