Long grass on a major road through High Wycombe could cause an accident, a driver has said – amid fears a cyclist or motorbike rider would not be seen.
Hot weather, closely followed by heavy rain, has meant grass on the verges across the county has sprung up quickly – making driving at junctions particularly dangerous.
Louise Patten, who lives off London Road in Loudwater in Riverswood Gardens, said residents pulling out onto the busy A40 are unable to see properly because the “dangerous” high grass and weeds are reaching up to the tree branches.
She told the Bucks Free Press: “For about seven years, I have been complaining to the council about the high levels of grass every year.
“I’ve reported it since May 26 to the council who have just completely ignored me. I have made three phone calls and still nothing has been done.
“It is very dangerous pulling out onto the main A40 across three lanes of traffic. There is going to be a road traffic accident soon because you actually can’t see traffic coming at all.
“The last time they cut the grass was about September last year and the grass is reaching the lowest branches on the trees now. It’s horrific.
“If there’s a bicycle or a motorbike, you wouldn’t see them. It’s so dangerous.”
There have been a string of complaints from across the county about the high levels of grass on the verges, particularly around junctions and roundabouts, although many see the benefits of leaving them wild to help insects and bugs flourish.
The Bucks Free Press asked Buckinghamshire Council when they were planning to finally cut the verges along the A40.
They sent a site engineer to take a look on Monday.
Cllr Steve Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport said: “The recent cycles of hot, sunny weather followed by periods of prolonged rainfall have created perfect growing conditions across the county and our teams are having to work harder than ever to deliver our routine grass-cutting programme of works.
“We are aware of a report of long grass on this section of road. Our site engineers have visited to assess the situation and have confirmed that whilst the grass is long, it is not currently deemed to be of immediate danger to road users.
“We can confirm that grass cutting is shortly scheduled to take place in this location as part of our county-wide programme of works.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and if the problem escalates, will we adjust our schedule to accelerate the planned works.”
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