HEDGE TRIMMING

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
keithhull43
Posts: 1
Joined: 10 Nov 2018, 7:10pm

HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by keithhull43 »

Having cycled over 3000 miles without a puncture I have had 2 in 2 consecutive days, both from thorns left in the road by farmers cutting hedges. The second day I was out with a local cycle group and we suffered 8 punctures from 10 cyclists within a 10 mile section of the run, surely a record. 1 week later and despite keeping to busier roads where the thorns are less prevalent we had 3 more punctures. Time surely for farmers to be regulated to clear away their hedge cuttings from the public highway.
geocycle
Posts: 2177
Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 9:46am

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by geocycle »

Similar here, 3 years no punctures then two in two days in different wheels. One definitely a thorn, the other not sure.
User avatar
meic
Posts: 19355
Joined: 1 Feb 2007, 9:37pm
Location: Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen)

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by meic »

Time surely for farmers to be regulated to clear away their hedge cuttings from the public highway.

I think that they are theoretically regulated. Also you can theoretically sue them over the damage caused. In practice if it is nothing more than a roadside repair to your innertube you just have to lump it.
Yma o Hyd
tim-b
Posts: 2091
Joined: 10 Oct 2009, 8:20am

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by tim-b »

Hi
Legislation already exists... s148 Highways Act 1980 (link). S148 is commonly applied to mud from tractor tyres, but it includes "any rubbish". I think that under the Act you can use a conviction as evidence to claim damages as well
S149 gives councils powers to clean up and claim expenses.
Complain to the local authority
Regards
tim-b
~~~~¯\(ツ)/¯~~~~
User avatar
pedalsheep
Posts: 1324
Joined: 11 Aug 2009, 7:57pm

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by pedalsheep »

29351824_1500545486738428_5192758565278414814_o.jpg

If only!
'Why cycling for joy is not the most popular pastime on earth is still a mystery to me.'
Frank J Urry, Salute to Cycling, 1956.
pwa
Posts: 17366
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by pwa »

With regard to what a farmer cutting hedges should be doing about debris on the road, I think it depends what is reasonable. A little bit of fine debris after cutting is reasonable, just a small hazard that goes with cycling in the countryside. Dense carpets of debris across the width if the road, or the bit you can use in the traffic that exists, go beyond what is reasonable. I apply the same sort of thinking to mud/muck from tractor tyres. I accept a bit as part of being in the countryside, but when I can feel the bike sliding sideways on it my patience runs thin.
User avatar
Cugel
Posts: 5430
Joined: 13 Nov 2017, 11:14am

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by Cugel »

20 or more years ago, the thorn season was a PITA for cyclists.

It was usually around late September as hedges didn't used to grow much after that until the following Spring. So a lot of hedges got cut in a short period. These days the hedges seem to get cut any time between the end of August and the middle of December, perhaps with a peak about now.

In those previous decades, the cutting technology seemed unable to collect or direct the cuttings, so they often ended up as quite dense patches of chopped hawthorn on the roads. I believe they employed fairly crude flails. These days, the cutters seem able to either collect or direct most of the cuttings back into a field or over the hedge that they're cutting, so there's far less on the road. I don't think I've ever seen a tractor cut stuff on to the road then something else come to sweep it up. Little of it seems to get on the road in the first place.

Tyres in the olden days were also far less resilient to the thorn. Although they're not immune now, they seem far less prone to a jab. Mine occasionally pick up a bit of hawthorn mini tank-trap but seem to spit them off again with no puncture. I believe wider tyres at lesser pressures help a bit as they will give more before a thorn can penetrate.

There's a ton of hawthorn hedge 'round here but I haven't had a thorn puncture in 7 or 8 years - only two punctures of any kind, in fact, over that period. I know it's a lot worse on main roads (yob-tossed glass bottle shards) and in those areas that have a lot of flints in the soil that get washed on to the roads.... But thorns seem far less of a problem than they were.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
tim-b
Posts: 2091
Joined: 10 Oct 2009, 8:20am

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by tim-b »

Hi
It was usually around late September...

Rule change; hedges can be cut 1st Sept to 28/29th Feb inclusive, but not outside these dates unless certain derogations apply, e.g danger, obstruction, hedge laying, sowing oilseed rape, etc.
Regards
tim-b
~~~~¯\(ツ)/¯~~~~
ChrisButch
Posts: 1188
Joined: 24 Feb 2009, 12:10pm

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by ChrisButch »

Cugel wrote:
In those previous decades, the cutting technology seemed unable to collect or direct the cuttings, so they often ended upcutters seem able to either collect or direct most of the cuttings back into a field or over the hedge that they're cutting, so there's far less on the road.

Cugel

If only. Still plenty of lower-tech flails about. The problem only began in the 70s, when flails replaced oscillating cutters (like the domestic hedgecutters still in use), which were much slower. Because the flails rip rather than cut, they's also bad for the health of the hedge.
User avatar
foxyrider
Posts: 6044
Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 10:25am
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by foxyrider »

You wouldn't think it would be such a problem in the almost hedge free Peak District but several times in the last month i've ended up riding through hedge cutting debris where they have flailed rather than cut Hawthorn trees alongside the roads. Touch wood no punctures up to now from that source.

The problem with getting the roads cleaned up is mostly one of will - the HA only react if there's an accident, the CC couldn't care a monkeys - there are roads i've abandoned using as the farmers manage to coat them not only in a lot of mud but wet slurry too - most unpleasant.
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
pwa
Posts: 17366
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by pwa »

The lanes are there in the first place because of agriculture, and the hedge cutting is what stops the hedge on one side growing out to meet the one on the other side, so I'm inclined to accept some of the inconveniences that come with farmers doing their stuff. It is when hedge clippings are too big or too dense that I think a line is crossed. Most of the clippings I've seen so far this time have been pretty well shredded and not very dense on the ground.
rjb
Posts: 7200
Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 10:25am
Location: Somerset (originally 60/70's Plymouth)

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by rjb »

Here in ciderland we get advanced notice.

Image

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
pete75
Posts: 16370
Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by pete75 »

rjb wrote:Here in ciderland we get advanced notice.

Image

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


And out in the fens - though it's not really needed they cut almost all the hedges down years ago....

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.62679 ... 312!8i6656
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Peejay56
Posts: 43
Joined: 12 Oct 2011, 12:15pm
Location: Tarporley, Cheshire.

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by Peejay56 »

With today's health and safety culture it amazes me they are allowed to cut hedges with an exposed fast rotating flail mower. The cuttings that get thrown on the road are a real pain no question, but if it throws a flail off (which they do occasionally) it would seriously injure someone if it hit them.
Surely it's not beyond the realms of engineering and technology to guard the flail mower and direct the cuttings straight down without throwing everything all over the road?

Rant over, Pete.
PH
Posts: 13106
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 12:31am
Location: Derby
Contact:

Re: HEDGE TRIMMING

Post by PH »

ChrisButch wrote:The problem only began in the 70s, when flails replaced oscillating cutters (like the domestic hedgecutters still in use), which were much slower. Because the flails rip rather than cut, they's also bad for the health of the hedge.

I'm a bit surprised to rad that. I'm no expert but heard a wildlife program on the radio some years ago that made the opposite argument - That flailing was healthier than cutting for both the hedge and wildlife because it removed the dead wood, rather than have it fall within the hedge and rot.
Post Reply