Double-deck Trailers

Our Work On Double-deck Trailers

Overview

Transporting horses on roads can be dangerous and requires safety precautions. Double-deck trailers place horses at risk and are not appropriate for the species. These trailers do not provide the necessary headroom for horses to stand upright, making it hard for them to keep their balance. Additionally, hauling horses in tight quarters (and often for long hours) can result in serious injuries.

Tragic accidents resulting in the death and injury of numerous horses have raised questions about the highway safety and animal welfare aspects of transporting horses in double-deck trailers. A horrific accident in 2007 involving a double-deck tractor trailer carrying 59 Belgian draft horses through Wadsworth, Illinois, was the impetus behind federal legislation to end this inhumane and unsafe form of transportation. The crash was so severe that it took more than five hours before authorities could free the suffering horses from the mangled truck. Sadly, 19 horses died from the crash.

The potential for catastrophic accidents is not the only inhumane aspect of these trailers, however. Even absent such wrecks, the use of these trailers can lead to serious injuries of horses during transport—a point on which humane organizations, veterinary associations, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) agree.

Double-deck trailers do not provide adequate headroom for adult equines, which may acquire cuts and abrasions on the tops of their heads. Because equines cannot stand in a normal position with their heads raised, they cannot maintain balance as easily and may suffer injuries from falling. In addition, ramps used to load animals onto double-deck trailers are at a relatively steep angle. … We do not believe that equines can be safely and humanely transported on a conveyance that has an animal cargo space divided into two or more stacked levels.

USDA, Docket No. APHIS-2006-0168

Facts

Double-deck trailers are designed for much shorter livestock such as cattle and hogs, not horses.
The USDA has expressed opposition to the transport of horses on double-deck trailers and issued regulations prohibiting their use entirely under the agency’s policy governing the transport of equines to slaughter.[1] The Horse Transportation Safety Act would provide protections covering the movement of all horses, not just those bound for slaughter.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)[2] and the National Agriculture Safety Database (NASD)[3] have recommended ceiling heights no lower than 7’–8′ to transport horses safely, while average double-deck trailer ceiling heights range from 4’7″–5’11”. It is also important to note that the US Department of Transportation[4] only requires bridges to have a vertical clearance of 14’–16′ in rural and urban areas, making it impossible to build or modify a trailer large enough to humanely transport equines on two levels.
At least seven states—Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont recognize that transporting horses via double-deck trailers is inhumane and prohibit it altogether.
An eighth state, New York, bans the use of double-deck trailers for carrying more than six horses on the highway. Rhode Island’s law not only bans the use of double-decker trailers to transport horses but also prohibits a person from sheltering “any equine animal” in a vehicle with two or more levels.