Cut grass on the side of the road

I always wondered why 'they' wasted time cutting the grass on the side of the road when I was a kid, 'they' being whatever road maintenance department was responsible for doing the job.  I was responsible growing up for mowing most of our rather large hilly lawn, and I looked at the magnitude of mowing all the roadsides in the country with abject HORROR.  Can you imagine??

Then I became a driver, and I was grateful when I realized that visibility is the biggest reason for keeping roadside grass short.  The extra 3 or 4 feet of warning a driver gets from being able to see a car emerging from a hidden driveway or a deer darting from the underbrush just an instant sooner can mean the difference between a quick dodge and a major accident.

This year many of the roads have much higher grass than usual, bad for cars, and really bad for runners.  I always avoid getting too close to the grass because of snakes, but this year I wouldn't be able to run in the grass if I wanted to.  Some of it is taller than I am!  I'm not sure if the reason is budget cuts causing road maintenance crews to be cut back, or the odd growing season that began six weeks early knocking the mowing schedule off whack.  The high grass on one of my favorite roads has caused me to choose a different and more traveled road, but better visibility.  It's a safety trade-off, more visibility, or more traffic?

Nec aspera terrent!

6/7/12 - 2.0 miles |  22 min | 5.2 mph | 209 kcal