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I am concerned that road safety is being neglected and that roads are being made more dangerous. I am only aware of this issue locally, but I guess it is a nationwide problem.
My concern is that the deliberate policy of councils not to trim roadside vegetation is hiding road signs and therefore making roads more dangerous.
I will use as a specific example a road I regularly use, the A41 between J20 of the M25 and Aylesbury. For most of its length it is 70 mph dual carriageway with a lot of green vegetation on either side.
Joining it from the M25 westbound one goes under the M25 and to some traffic lights. Most of these lights are visible, but one traffic light, directly ahead of traffic bearing half left onto the A41 is now completely obscured by an overgrown hedge. I have watched it disappear over the last few weeks and now have to peer hard to even catch a glimpse of it. It is not the only traffic light at this junction, but it is positioned where most of the traffic bearing left should be able to see it.
Once on this stretch of the A41 there are no more traffic lights until after the dual carriageway ends near Aylesbury. However there are the usual number of road signs, direction signs, warning signs, advice of Services, etc. Some of these have large pieces missing from them where the wind has damaged the signs ,so are not readable, whether visible or not. Many, dare I say most of them, are partially, or almost wholly obliterated by vegetation. As the summer progresses the obliteration gets worse. I know the road, so it doesn’t worry me, but for strangers looking for direction signs and exits it can be dangerous, One of the worst places is the northbound exit for Tring Industrial Estates, Whipsnade Zoo and Wendover/RAF Halton. Not only is the primary exit sign obliterated, at the top of the slip road the local direction sign is 40% covered with greenery. These signs are In Hertfordshire, very close to the boundary with Buckinghamshire.
I have tried reporting this to Herts CC and via Fix my Street, but nothing happens.
I drove to Oxford last week cross country (not M40) and noticed a large number of signs on local roads and major roads were similarly obstructed, including speed limit signs. Is it an excuse to say ‘I didn’t know there was a speed limit, the sign was hidden’?
Do others agree this is a road safety issue, and if so what should be done about it?
It’s only partly about if its a road safety issue, it’s mostly about the difficulty enforcing the Highways Act 1980. Every summer every highways department is deluged by vegetation complaints, but the vegetation isn’t highway vegetation, it belongs to adjacent residents and landowners. So, a long-winded process of writing to them/serving notice and trying to get them and cut it themselves ensues. If Highway Departments could just cut it when its discovered and be guaranteed to get paid for the work, and if the public could be made to accept that any of their vegetation overhanging the highway could be cut back at any time without notice, highway authorities could resource and schedule it for every summer.
Speed limit signs aside and resident’s responsibilities nicely explained by Kendrick. Many roadside are there as a reminder to drivers, and most drivers on their regular routes never actually read the signs anyway.
The real challenge is of course finance, whether its the local authority or the land owner. How often is too often, and how often is not enough With the current dry period, here to the east, verges are not really growing, so paying for a cut would be wasteful. There is no easy answer. Of the slightly easier options can be done by the drivers, but then again its probably easier to get additional funding!!!!!!!Local Authorities should be aware of the legal case of Yetkin v London Borough of Newham.
Key Point
The public authority are held liable for the failure to cut back bushes which created a danger of individuals crossing the road into oncoming traffic
Facts
Claimant was a pedestrian crossing a large road and was hit by an oncoming vehicle
The claimant alleged that the accident was due to the public authority failing to cut back bushes so that oncoming traffic could be seen
Held (Court of Appeal)
The public authority was held liable for negligence
Judgment
Through the creation of a danger the public authority owed a duty of care to users of the road
The claimant was contributorily negligent in their crossing the road but this did not prevent the duty of care arising on the part of the local authority
The bushes did not need to amount to a trap, it was sufficient that they created a danger.If there were a case of a driver crashing when exceeding the speed limit there could be claim against the Highway Authority for not cutting back bushes which had obscured a speed limit sign. This could be an insurance company wishing to mitigate the claim against their client by holding the Highway Authority partially liable.
That case involved vegetation that the authority had themselves planted in the central reservation adjacent to a sheep pen style crossing point, so the creation of danger was very much on them as they owned the vegetation, positioned it in the first place and could maintain it themselves as they liked. I take your point on duty of care though. With private vegetation which is what commonly obstructs the highway in most cases, I presume the authority would only need to show they have a reasonable risk-based system of inspection, maintenance and enforcement, similar to pothole claims. Ideally, the public would be more aware of their responsibilities on this front anyway and public information films went a long way to helping that back in the day.
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