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VP Mike Pence caused outrage by driving his motorcade through a car-free pristine vacation destination island - here's what happenedhttps://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/vp-mike-pence-caused-outrage-by-driving-his-motorcade-through-a-car-free-pristine-vacation-destination-island-heres-what-happened/slidelist/71267381.cms2019-09-24T00:54:54+05:30

VP Mike Pence caused outrage by driving his motorcade through a car-free pristine vacation destination island - here's what happened

Sep 24, 2019, 00:54 IST

Vice President Mike Pence traveled by motorcade on Mackinac Island on Saturday in the middle of Lake Huron in Michigan to the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference.

The island has been historically car-free since 1901.

The island enacted the vehicle ban because the presence of cars on the island were “noisy, and belched stinky fumes” and scared the horses, according to the Star Tribune.

Pence is the first government official to violate Mackinac Island’s carless tradition, according to The New York Times.

Vice President Mike Pence leaves the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island Saturday in an eight-vehicle motorcade — the island’s first ever. pic.twitter.com/p0IgewX09K

— Paul Egan (@paulegan4) September 21, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence leaves the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island Saturday in an eight-vehicle motorcade — the island’s first ever. pic.twitter.com/p0IgewX09K

— Paul Egan (@paulegan4) September 21, 2019

Multiple videos of Pence's arrival in his motorcade was captured by local news outlets and posted on social media, where they quickly went viral.

For Pence, eight cars were transported to the island via Shepler’s Ferry.

Shepler’s Ferry is the official ferry provider of the biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, according to the company's website.

“It was our honor to transport [Pence’s] emergency vehicles to Mackinac Island this weekend,” Shepler’s Ferry tweeted following the transport.

“Banned for a century people, and here comes the Trump Administration trampling all over it, like they do the U.S. Constitution,” Democratic US Rep. Rashida Talib, who is from Detroit, tweeted in criticism of Pence.

The main form of transportation on the island is by foot, bike, or horse, according to The New York Times.

Over 80% of the island is preserved as a state park, according to Mackinac.com.

Almost one million people visit the Island annually and is known as one of the “most precious natural resources in Michigan.”

There are some exceptions to the island’s vehicle ban.

Construction, police, and emergency vehicles are allowed.

President Gerald R. Ford visited the island in 1975 and rode in a horse-drawn "motorcade" around the island, according to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

“Not even the Secret Service could get the people of Mackinac Island to back down on their ban on motorized vehicles,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library 's now-former Photo Archivist Ken Hafeli wrote about Ford’s visit to Mackinac Island.

Shepler's pointed out in a follow-up tweet that it ferries other vehicles to the island, including media vehicles for events.

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