On verge of an accident if councils do not trim hedges
This was traditionally a job which various Co Councils undertook annually — and a fine job they did of it. However, in recent months we have been witnessing a situation where the local authorities are no longer doing that job. Money, as ever, is at the heart of the issue.
The councils are adamant they no longer have the cash to do this vital work — and that may be the case, despite the new extra taxes being extracted from the broad public — but the fact of the matter is that this critical element of road safety is now being completely ignored. Anyone who drives the highways and byways of Ireland will attest that having well-tended roadside verges is not simply a matter of having them neat and tidy; for drivers, having trimmed verges, shorn ditches, orderly trees and so forth, is an absolutely vital component of being able to drive safely. Any experienced driver will tell you that clear sightlines on any stretch of road is a part of their defensive armoury that not only keeps them safe, but other road users too. With unshorn verges, wild ditches and unnecessarily intrusive trees affecting vision and visibility, the safety risks become evident. Also, with the increasing levels of cycling activity on our roads right now, it is nearly impossible for cyclists to keep as tight to the inside of the road as they might otherwise do.
