Famously Car-less Mackinac Island Actually Has One Recorded Car Accident

Mackinac Island is one of the country's premier travel destinations and a big part of why is its charm. The island can only be reached by ferry or a very short 7-minute flight from St. Ignace to its sole airport. Cars have been banned on the island since 1896, and cars have only graced the island once before (more on that later).

The island is so serious about the car ban that it had a 125th-anniversary celebration about the fact there are no cars allowed. So how in the world is it possible that there is a registered car accident in a place where only horses and bikes are the main means of transportation?

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The story of Mackinac Island's only car accident is one with a bit of an asterisk and a need for explanation. Despite popular and commercial beliefs, there are actually cars on Mackinac Island. Emergency service vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks are on the island to transport people to the Medical Center when needed.

So the irony of this entire ordeal is that the people who are meant to help during emergencies are the ones who were involved in the accident. M-185's only accident took place in 2005 when a fire truck's utility door was damaged after it tried "maneuvering too close to the open door of an ambulance and clipped it", causing minor damage to the door of the fire truck.

A minor fender bender is now immortalized as Mackinac Island's only accident. A place where there is no traffic had a traffic incident, which is sort of incredible honestly. There were no injuries in the wreck if you can even call it that, but it was enough to have to be documented.

The Only Time Mackinac Island Had Cars On It

The only time the island has ever had cars featured on the island was when former Vice President Mike Pence visited the island in 2019 and was accompanied by an 8-vehicle motorcade, which prompted many conflicting opinions on whether this should have been allowed or not.

What Pence's motorcade can say at least is that it didn't crash into each other, unlike some other drivers on the island.