Muck on the Roads

Martron

Corsendonk wrote: »

Nah the farmers putting muck on the roads is reportable. Risk of accidents and flooding. Same issues as buildings sites suffer.

yeah i know the building side of fouling the road. not tractor in the vicinity of rush cleans its wheels beofre it comes out on to the roads.

and there is daily evidence of this. Besides not making a big deal on it and fingal are "aware" of it.

Corsendonk

Someone reported it before on the skerries road. They had to scrub the tractor wheels down an sweep the roads ut that was a few years ago.

The one they should crack down is the guys that risk it for a biscuit and don't put the oversized ploughs on trailers.At speed the plough swings wider and wider. Hate to see a headless cyclist or driver someday.

Martron

well i got a road cleaned as it was getting dangerous. and basically fingal said they were goign to press the local farmers as to stop the "littering" of the road. this has not fseemed to have an effect.

anyway it would not take long with a shovel to knock of the bulk of the soil and muck before heading out on the road.

LeoB

On the muck on the roads, one problem causing so mush muck is the actual state of the roads. I see tractors with rotavotors hitting a pothole and a load of clay falls off. It would be very difficult to clean these. Also a lot of tractors especially when working in wet conditions have mud dripping off them. It would be very hard to have any control or to police this.

If Fingal had some of there road sweeps out a bit more regular it would help. Look at the build up of dirt along the Whitestown Rd and Park Rd.The Park Rd is about 2 foot narrower becasue it is just left and the mud gets splashed against the dithch and just builds up. The paths are getting narrower with the build up of dirt. They must have some machine to clean the paths?

Martron

LeoB wrote: »

It would be very hard to have any control or to police this.

?

well i dont like seeing peopel geting in trouble , but they could knock the majority off it with a shovel would take 5 mins. it would reduce it drastically.

any building site i ever worked on , if we pulled muck out on to the road we had to clean it. because the county council would be breathing down out necks and also from a safety point of view.

the m50 was the worst. if there was even dust on the road covering an arrow or anything the guards, the nra, m50 concession would be going crazy over it.

(even the construction site on the lusk bypass had a road sweeper the whole time)

it does not take too long to knock off 80% of the muck. I have expressed my concerns to fingal already about the safety of some footpaths around rush as in the kerb is the main safety feature of a footpath. as in a low speeds it will keep a car on the road and prevent it from mounting the footpath. but as you can see a lot of the kerbs have a ramp onto them provided by muck that has built up.

you may have noticed brook lane got a rough cleaning there a few weeks back. fingal threw mw from one department to the next and i eventually ended in the litter department. At that stage i have had enough . and basically said to them that i would hate to see anything happen to a pedestrian especially after i had raised my concerns about pedestrian safety to various departments. as you could imagine then the reply was swift!

i suppose fingal could fine them but as i said before i dont want to be getting farmers in trouble for something which they could avoid easily themselves.

long story short. its technically littering, its dangerous ( particularly when it rains) it can be policed ( as 9/10 you can tell where it came from , just follow the track back to the field)i would imgine in some cases a warning of a fine might be enough to make an effort.

Beasty

The real threat of prosecution has worked well in the UK for many years.
It's not as if it's difficult to work out where it's coming from!

It's really only the wheels that are a problem - most farm implements are shaken enough on the field to get rid of most of the surplus mud. A quick brush over the wheels is all it really needs to avoid creating such a mess (which can be quite dangerous for cyclists, particularly when wet).

Martron

you will never get something 100% clean. even with sophisticated wheel washers its still not perfect. but a little effort would make a serious differences to the roads.

Corsendonk

Yes serveral of the UK rural councils have advice on there websites and a specific contact listed unlike FCC. Wiltshire below is a rural enough county, there advice is fairly common sense.

Wiltshire Council

Some mud or dirt on roads may be inevitable in rural areas where farming is the main activity. However, it is an offence to allow soil or refuse from land adjacent to a public highway to fall, be washed, or carried onto the road. Mud from vehicles and animals can be a potential hazard to other road users, and can be the cause of accidents.

Positive action is taken in respect of development sites where activity is likely to result in mud being carried onto the roads, either through imposition of conditions on planning approvals or by way of a planning agreement with developers.

We usually contact the farmer or those responsible in the first instance, asking for the mud to be removed. If it is not removed within a reasonable time we may arrange for the work to be undertaken and charge the person responsible. The Police may prosecute for failure to remove

Advice for the Farmer

Wiltshire Council

Do everything possible to prevent mud being deposited on the road. This includes cleaning mud from vehicles, as far as practicable, before they are taken onto the road. The fact that cleaning mud off tractors and attachments is commercially inconvenient may not be a defence in law. Only use signs that are authorised. The recommended sign shows the ‘Slippery Road’ triangle with ‘Mud on Road’ sub plate. If appropriate, the ‘Men at Work’ sign should be used. Signs must be at least 750mm.. Make sure they are positioned to give maximum visibility and warning to other road users. Clean the road as necessary during the working day and always at the end of the working day. Ensure that labour and equipment is available and is suitable for the soil and weather conditions present. Where a contractor is used, ensure that prior agreement is reached on who is responsible for mud on road issues (signage, cleaning etc) and ensure that adequate public liability insurance is in place.

Martron

Corsendonk wrote: »

Yes serveral of the UK rural councils have advice on there websites and a specific contact listed unlike FCC. Wiltshire below is a rural enough county, there advice is fairly common sense.

Wiltshire Council


Advice for the Farmer

Wiltshire Council

i dont think you can get much fairer than that

TangyZizzle

The farmers are more guilty then you'd think. When driving behind some of them you can CLEARLY see when they are cycling up and down through the gears fairly rapidly, this causes the tractor to bounce and the much goes everywhere.

Beasty

No swearwords (even if slightly disguised), otherwise we'll have to issue infractions

Thanks

Beasty