Horse-drawn carriage accidents in 2017: Three dead and 67 injured
The animal rights organization PETA has published the horse-drawn carriage accident statistics for last year. In 2017, there were 41 accidents across Germany in which three people were killed and 67 injured – many of them seriously. In addition, three horses died and 17 other animals were injured. The previous year also recorded 41 accidents with four fatalities and 61 injuries. By far the most common cause of accidents was one or more horses being startled in road traffic or
The animal rights organization PETA has published the horse-drawn carriage accident statistics for last year. In 2017, there were 41 accidents across Germany in which three people were killed and 67 injured – many of them seriously. In addition, three horses died and 17 other animals were injured. The previous year also recorded 41 accidents with four fatalities and 61 injuries. By far the most common cause of accidents was one or more horses being startled in road traffic or on a forest or field path.
PETA calls for a ban on carriages
«The risks involved in horse-drawn carriage rides are extremely high. While the highest safety standards apply to motor vehicles, carriages are still allowed to trot along roads as if it were the Middle Ages. We are calling for a ban on horse-drawn carriages as a means of transport – to protect both people and animals,» said Peter Höffken, specialist adviser for animals in the entertainment industry at PETA.
It is utterly absurd to use horses in road traffic. As flight animals, they are often startled by minor disturbances, and a simple honk of a horn can trigger a tragedy.
Austria and Switzerland also affected
Austria also saw several horse-drawn carriage accidents in 2017: in 14 incidents, 32 people and two horses were injured. In Switzerland, five accidents resulted in three people and horses injured, and one animal died. In view of the repeatedly tragic toll of 60 accidents across the German-speaking world, with three people killed and 102 injured, as well as four horses killed and 22 injured, PETA is calling on the Federal Ministry of Transport to introduce, as a first step, a ban on horse-drawn carriages on motorways and major roads.
The animal rights organization pointed out that the frequently severe outcomes of these accidents are mainly attributable to the absence of safety features such as seat belts and airbags, as well as inadequate lighting and insufficient braking systems. A comparison with accident statistics from the motor vehicle sector is therefore not useful: unlike horse-drawn carriages, the safety of motorized vehicles is continuously improved and adapted to current standards. In 2010, Rothenburg ob der Tauber passed a ban on horse-drawn carriages in the city center following a serious accident, a decision that was upheld by the Bavarian Administrative Court.
Part of PETA's motto reads: animals are not here to entertain us. The animal rights organization also advocates for a ban on horse-drawn carriages on animal welfare grounds. Tourist carriage horses in particular are often forced to stand for hours in loud and dangerous road traffic on hard asphalt in winter cold or summer heat, or to pull heavy carriages — frequently to the point of collapse. Horses are denied a species-appropriate way of life when put before carriages.
