Bustle in Your Hedgerows
A great anecdote from an article in Smithsonian (which quotes Traffic) on risk compensation:
Soon after the first gasoline-powered horseless carriages appeared on English roadways, the secretary of the national Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland suggested that all those who owned property along the kingdom’s roadways trim their hedges to make it easier for drivers to see. In response, a retired army colonel named Willoughby Verner fired off a letter to the editor of the Times of London, which printed it on July 13, 1908.
“Before any of your readers may be induced to cut their hedges as suggested by the secretary of the Motor Union they may like to know my experience of having done so,” Verner wrote. “Four years ago I cut down the hedges and shrubs to a height of 4ft for 30 yards back from the dangerous crossing in this hamlet. The results were twofold: the following summer my garden was smothered with dust caused by fast-driven cars, and the average pace of the passing cars was considerably increased. This was bad enough, but when the culprits secured by the police pleaded that ‘it was perfectly safe to go fast’ because ‘they could see well at the corner,’ I realised that I had made a mistake.” He added that he had since let his hedges and shrubs grow back.
I couldn’t help also think of a story today about a woman killed by a reckless driver (police think he was racing, and manslaughter charges are a possibility) in San Diego.
“Route 67 between Poway Road and Ramona has been the scene of numerous fatal crashes over the years. Calls to widen the winding route have been made for some time, but transportation and highway patrol officials say the real problem isn’t with the road but with the way people drive on it… Speeding is responsible for most of the crashes, they say.”
It’s amazing how short-sighted (not seeing the forest for the, er, hedgerows) people can be in this respect; widening the road is absolutely the last thing that will reduce what seems to be a speed problem.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 11:49 am and is filed under Risk, Roads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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January 23rd, 2010 at 7:11 pm
This is very interesting.
I had a similar hedge dilemma. My front garden is next to a pavement, which is often used by bicycles and scooters to shorten their way around two intersections on the road, and it corners on to the road.
One day a kid on a scooter whizzed through the path and on to the street, intending to continue straight on along the other street, but hit a car that was coming along the street.
I realised that if the bushes in my garden had been trimmed back, maybe the rider/driver would have seen each other 1 second earlier, and managed to avoid the collision.
On the other hand, if the rider was stupid enough to whizz through the path in to the street when he knowingly has no good view of the street, then he probably deserves what’s coming.
I cut back the bushes in the end.
For the majority of drivers, perhaps indeed a full bush would be a reason for them to slow down and be more careful, but then, the majority of drivers would not be going along that path in the first place, would they?
So maybe I’ve saved another 16 year old kid from a future visit to the ER.