Long grass at Shropshire roundabout is verging on dangerous, say motorists

Drivers from Chirk say negotiating the Gledrid Roundabout, which carries two trunk roads, the A5 and A483, has been made hazardous by the long grass obstructing the view of the carriageway.

Several people in Chirk have called on local councillors to act to get the grass mown. But although the nearest town is in Wales, the roundabout is in England.

One man has even taken to social media to say he is prepared to cut the verges himself.

Scott James said the roundabout was redesigned in recent years to ease traffic and avoid congestion but said the lack of maintenance and the grass on the exits two foot high, meant there were a lot of near misses.

In a email to Highways England he wrote: "If you have not got time or manpower, give me a shout and supply a lawn mover and petrol and I will cut it myself."

Driver Sharon Hurdsman has to use the roundabout twice a day to get to work.

"The verges really are awful at the moment. You have to edge out into the road to see if there is anything coming and traffic goes so fast around the island," she said.

"The Chirk bypass is dangerous enough at the best of times. There are enough accidents on the road, we don't want any more because we can't get someone to cut the grass.

"I have to do risk assessments at work and looking at the island anyone can see that the overgrown verges and island are causing a huge risk of an accident. I am not the only one to have contacted Highways England about the problem," she said.

The call for the verges to be cut on the island came as a survey showed drivers up and down the UK are running the risk of fines and accidents because road signs are hidden behind overgrown foliage.

More than 400 casualties – including three deaths – have been reported in figures provided by the Department for Transport where overgrown vegetation was given as a contributory over the past couple of years.

The car buying comparison site scrapcarcomparison.co.uk says information provided by customers often reveals drivers have been unaware of signs leading to an incident.

It says that ever decreasing council budgets for highways – a shortfall of £162 million expected for 2017/18 on last year - combined with the mixed wet and warm weather, has led to an alarming amount of road signs being lost to nature and unseen by drivers.

This raises the likelihood of drivers slowing down unexpectedly or carrying out sharp manoeuvres which has led to three deaths and 88 seriously injured according to figures provided by the Department for Transport in the past two years. A further 319 were slightly injured during a road traffic incident where overgrown vegetation is given as a contributory factor.

“The rural areas are claiming vehicles weekly as drivers are not aware of junctions, bends or speed limits,” a spokesperson for the website, Dean Adams, said.

Highways England was not available for comment.