Carriage operators downtown will have a chance Thursday to convince a handful of city council members that their horses won’t be spooked by Blue Angel flights over the harbor this weekend.
A majority of council said Tuesday night that it wanted the horses off the streets regardless of the test, but the decision will come down to a special meeting of the Traffic and Transportation Committee on Friday morning. Three of the committee’s five members approved Thursday’s four-hour test run, without paying passengers, to see how the horses would react to the sound of the planes.
The Blue Angels warned city officials that the horses may startle during the performances, but carriage operators say their horses won’t be phased. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who has defended the carriage industry from safety concerns in the past, sided with the recommendation of local police and the Air Force in calling to park the horses while the jets are in the air.
In front of the transportation committee, carriage operators successfully argued that their horses could take the noise. But, in a full meeting of City Council, it was clear that the majority fretted over the liability of an accident no matter what happens Thursday.
“It’s an unacceptable risk,” Riley says. “There’s no reason to do this.”
The council agreed to offer additional nighttime hours for the carriages during the peak summer tourist season as a concession for any lost revenue this weekend. But they will have to wait out the committee’s decision following the test.
Noise appears to have been a factor in at least one recent horse carriage incident downtown. A startled horse overturned a carriage and bent a stop sign down to the ground, according to a March 26, 2009, police report.
Near 10 a.m., a Classic Carriage Tours driver was turning the corner at Market and Anson streets when she told police the horse was startled by the sound of construction machinery. The frightened animal then allegedly ran down the street “at a high rate of speed.” The driver veered the horse and carriage to the side of the road in order to avoid pedestrians.
“The result of the sudden stop overturned the carriage, bending the stop sign at North Market and Anson streets completely over onto the sidewalk,” according to the police report.
The driver and two other tour company workers were not injured and declined medical assistance.
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