Cattle grid throws up unexpected £70,000 problem for council

Somerset County Council has just been forced to drop £70k ironing out a bizarre problem on a road in Minehead.

This problem certainly wouldn’t have even been considered as an issue when part of the road was built many moons ago.

That’s because even the most modern cars didn’t feature brake sensors back when the first cattle grid was installed on Hill Road in Minehead.

So what happened?!

Click here to read mooore about the problem first hand!

Now, cattle grids don’t usually throw up a problem for modern car sensors.

But when they’re cut level into a steep road? Turns out that’s cause for mayhem!

And this one on Hill Road ended up being just as good at keeping cars out as it was at keeping cows in!

To car sensors, the grid looked like an obstruction. So rather than slowing down to enjoy the familiar bumpety-bump you get with a run of the mill cattle grid, drivers kept finding themselves leaving the road when their cars’ brakes were automatically slammed on.

Apparently the sudden change in gradient was behind the awkward problem, meaning that some cars’ sensors detected the cattle grid as a wall.

To rectify the unpredictable problem, the council’s highway team spent £70,000 and a month changing the profile along 90ft of the road.

Who knew a cattle grid could cause such a dangerous (and expensive) problem?!