The lack of hedgerow management is leading to “a significant number of road traffic accidents on rural roads”, according to the Association of Farm Contractors in Ireland (FCI).
The association is calling for clarity on the regulation and enforcement of the Road Safety Act, as it believes that the management of roadside verges is contributing to creating higher risks to all road users.
The FCI has written to three government ministers, including Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the chairs of local authorities around the country about the matter.
FCI
The FCI said that there is a road safety requirement under Section 70 of the Road Traffic Act 1993 that verge trimming of vegetative growth is carried out during the summer months on dangerous sections of roads.
“This road encroaching vegetation has limited the amount of space available to passing vehicular, cycling and pedestrian traffic,” it said.
The FCI said that sensor systems on modern cars are “forcing drivers into the centre of these unmanaged rural roads, as car technology aims to reduce collision risks in detecting this summer vegetative growth”.
The association said that major roads and motorways, “where there are no cyclists, pedestrians and runners”, are regularly maintained.
However, rural roadside verges in Ireland are dominated in the summer by “large and vigorous plants such as hogweed, Giant Hogweed, cow parsnip, bindweed and knotweed”, which the FCI said are “not habitat areas for nest birds”.
“These plants significantly reduce summer road space, leading to road related accidents,” the association said.
Contractors
John Hughes, national chair of the FCI, said that local authorities should employ suitably qualified and registered hedgerow/verge management contractors.
“We also believe that roadside hedge and verge management initiatives should strive to meet multiple objectives in a balanced and cost-effective way that ensures that road safety objectives do not unnecessarily compromise biodiversity,” he added.
The FCI said that roadside verge and hedge management must meet the following three combined objectives:
- A safe road system;
- Protection of roadside nature and biodiversity;
- Cost effective management and delivery.
The association has called on the departments of nature, transport and agriculture, NPWS and local authorities to “provide practical guidelines for rural road verge management”.
It added that an immediate programme should be put in place to allow for fast and practical decision-making processes.
“This will allow local authorities to use the devolved power vested in them to deliver practical, workable and clearly proven road safety initiatives for rural and local road users who account for 55% of all road traffic that each day is driving on 94% of Ireland’s now neglected road network,” the association said.
The FCI, which represents farm and forestry contractors in Ireland, has also released a video to highlight the situation.