From Tech Transfer Newsletter, Summer 2008 » printer-friendly

Mowing for Safety, Safely

By Greg Dauber, Technical Writer, Pennsylvania State University

Mowing is a straightforward method of controlling vegetation on rights-of-way. It is nevertheless important to safety, by allowing drivers to see the contours of any clear zone you have created beyond the shoulders of your roadways.

While keeping the clear zone discernible is a major reason for mowing, the practice also maintains the visibility of post-mounted delineators and hazard markers, which 3-foot-high grass can obscure. Labor-intensive trimming may be needed, too, where the mowers can't reach the grass immediately around delineators and markers.

Trimming of branches and cooperation with landowners are primary methods of controlling vegetation that limits driver sight distance to critical signs, such as stop signs, and along intersecting roadways at stop signs. However, mowing also serves in these situations. On through roads, high grass can prevent the driver from gauging the potential for conflict at driveways and intersections and limit estimation of curve severity.

Mowing Tips

• Time your mowing to growth cycles and weather. In hot, dry weather, grass will grow more slowly, and cutting it too short and too often exposes roots and soil to direct sun, causing them to dry out. Don't mow in wet conditions either. It's hard on equipment, as well as on the grass where the tractor bogs down.
• Be alert for signs marking areas where mowing and vegetation control are limited for preservation of wildlife habitat or plant species. If you think these "no-mow" areas are becoming a safety problem, report them to your supervisor for review.
• Where the roadside permits, on slopes that rise or fall 1 foot or less in 2.5 feet of horizontal distance, consider mowing 15 feet beyond the pavement edge. Mow farther if the slope remains gentle enough for you to reach the fore slope and one pass on the back slope of a ditch. Also mow farther to blend the maintained roadside with natural or planted vegetation beyond, such as wildflower beds.
• On slopes that rise or fall more steeply, mow with a side-mounted unit or one swath past the point where the slope becomes steeper than 1 foot in 2.5 feet.

Mowing Safely

While this article stresses the safety benefits that mowing affords drivers, don't forget your own safety.

• Before starting any mower, make sure it is completely lubricated, adjusted, and checked for loose nuts and bolts. Check the chain guard and other mower covers intended to keep debris from being thrown. Replace broken or missing debris guards immediately; don't operate a mower without them. A small rock or piece of a can or bottle becomes a dangerous projectile when launched by a mower. Cover all v-belts, drive chains, and power take-off shafts.
• Shut off power before checking any mower unit. Block the mower before changing or sharpening a blade. Any blade being reinstalled should be checked for cracks or damage that will lead to failure.
• Avoid mowing with a regular unit on slopes that rise or fall away more than one foot in 2.5 feet of horizontal distance. Use a sidemounted mower or a boom, and keep the tractor unit on the gently sloped surface.
• Operate side-mounted or boom mower units on the uphill side of the tractor, where possible, to further diminish the possibility of overturning the tractor.
• Raise mowers when crossing driveways and roadways.
• Face oncoming traffic as much as possible when mowing around hazard markers, signs and guiderail near the edge of the roadway to watch for out-of-control vehicles.
• Place a Slow Moving Vehicle sign (reflective triangle) on the rear of tractors. Use rotating yellow beacons on the tractors, and install yellow flashers on the roll bar or top of the tractor cab. Operate these at all times. Install an orange pennant on a whip to show the location of the tractor over the edge of slopes. Use the tractor's headlights at all times.
• Wear hearing protection and a safety vest. Wear a hard hat and safety goggles to protect yourself from branches and flying debris. Wear leather gloves and boots that have hard toes and soles.

Traffic Control for Mowing in California

Mowing is a moving operation that typically takes place off the roadway, although sometimes the tractor must use the shoulder or even part of the travel lane as a side unit mows a narrow turf shoulder. Progress is not always steady in one direction, as a mower must sometimes double back to complete wide areas.

According to the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CA MUTCD), temporary traffic control generally is not needed where work is confined to an area of 15 feet or more from the edge of the traveled way. (CA MUTCD 6G.06)

However, the CA-MUTCD states that temporary traffic control is appropriate where distracting situations exist, such as vehicles parked on the shoulder or equipment traveling on or crossing the roadway to perform the work operations (for example, mowing).(CA MUTCD 6G.06) For work beyond the shoulder, see Figure 6H-1(CA) in the CA MUTCD. The elements of the temporary traffic control planning process are found in section 6C of the CA MUTCD.

For mowing operations, the mowing ahead sign may be used. When equipment is traveling on or crossing the roadway, a single warning sign, such as the workers sign (W21-1a in the CA MUTCD) should be used. If the equipment travels on the roadway, the equipment should be equipped with appropriate flags, high-intensity rotating, oscillating, or strobe lights, and/or a slow moving vehicle sign.

Portions of Mowing for Safety, Safely (Technical Information Sheet #134) are reprinted with permission from the Pennsylvania Local Technical Assistance Program. The original article was based on material in Vegetation Control for Safety, a Guide for Street and Highway Maintenance Personnel, FHWA-RT-90-003, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Highway Safety, prepared under the Rural Transportation Assistance Program Project 70 by the Technology Transfer Center, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011.

Resources

Caltrans Maintenance Manual
www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/manual/maintman.htm
Chapter E, Landscaping

California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/signtech/mutcdsupp/ca_mutcd.htm

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