road verges on rural roads - NERC Open Research Archive ...

- Safety
All counties cited safety as a prime reason for grass cutting,
although
eight did not give it top priority and three others added qualifications on
economic or resource grounds. All counties emphasised the requirement to
maintain sight lines on bends and at junctions and many included visibility
of traffic warning and other signs. Although a number mentioned ~edestrians
within the general heading of safety and all counties were especially concerned
about the hazards for children walking to school, the majority of counties
either provided made-up footpaths where there was much pedestrian traffic, Or
relied on pedestrians to create and maintain their own paths by use, or did not
have a general problem with pedestrians. A small number of counties were
concerned about making provision for horse riders but in one county there was
an antipathy to horses because of the damage that they did to the verge.
Several counties attached importance to the psychological effects on drivers
of a feeling of enclosure from vegetation crowding in on the carriageway and
the actual danger of damage to paintwork of vehicles especially by woody
vegetation, leading motorists to keep to the centre of the <strong>road</strong>. Clear delinea-
tion of the edge of the highway and revealment of obstacles in the case of
motorists running-off the carriageway onto the verge were further points
mentioned.
Whilst there is no doubt about the safety aspects of kerb revealment, sight-
lines at dangerous bends and junctions and the clearance of <strong>road</strong> signs, the
general contribution of <strong>road</strong>side grass mowing to safety is an article of faith
rather than an established fact. Mr. Jenner (1969 and private communications),
the County Surveyor of Hampshire, reporting on the Hampshire County Council
policy not to cut <strong>road</strong>side <strong>verges</strong> in 1968, stated that he and the Chief Constable
were satisfied that there was no increase in the accident rate in the County in
that year on that account. They thought in fact that people tended to drive more
carefully when the visibility was restricted by uncut vegetation. Nevertheless,
whilst there had not been an actual increase in the accident rate, they thought
restricted visibility on <strong>road</strong>s with already substandard alignments could increase
the risk of accident. Standards of alignment of <strong>road</strong>s are relative to the speed
of the traffic using them, and in many country <strong>road</strong>s it might be argued that by
increasing the standard the Authority is only inviting the motorist to go faster
and increase for other reasons the risk and severity of collisions. Similarly
an analysis of accidents by the Police in Gloucestershire in 1971 did not indicate
that long grass obstructing visibility was a contributing factor in any accident
(pers. comm.).