Overgrown hedges cause road rage
Section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 places the responsibility for roadside hedge on the owners or occupiers of adjoining lands, but enforcement of this law is virtually non-existent, according to Verona Murphy, president of the Irish Road Hauliers Association.
She told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport last week that hedge maintenance is paramount to all road users’ safety.
She said overgrown hedges are a primary cause of road accidents in rural Ireland.
“The county councils have the power. Whether or not they have the money or the wherewithal to go after the landowner is another thing,” said Ms Murphy.
“Last week, they cut hedging in Wexford under the special provision of road safety, which was outside the hedge cutting period.
“It can be done, as it is already regulated for. The law is there, so it should be used.”
However, the Oireachtas debate on road safety heard from other speakers that some councils are ending up in court over hedge cutting.
Ms Murphy said county councils’ roads engineers and maintenance operators should be tasked with checking for overgrown hedgerows, rather than rely on individuals to report them.
“Pedestrians and cyclists have nowhere to go when hedges are overgrown. HGVs and buses are forced into the centre of the road to avoid losing mirrors but all the while, the councils have provision within legislation to cut hedges when road safety is an issue.”
During the debate, a spokesman for the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors (FCI) said they are looking for an extension of the hedge cutting season on public roads, to allow for mid-year maintenance of hedgerows for road safety reasons.
Michael Moroney, chief executive officer of the FCI, said, “We are witnessing significant and expensive damage to tractor lighting and mirror systems, as well as similar damage to trucks caused by unmanaged hedgerows.
“Visibility is severely restricted when exiting fields on many such roads, owing to non-existent hedge management by local authorities.”
Ms Murphy said: “A vehicle will fail if mirrors of the correct standard are not fitted, but no regard is given to the hazard of losing these mirrors at great cost to the operator and to road safety, when an overhanging tree branch is responsible for its loss.
“Visibility is a key factor in implementing road safety.”
