Hidden road signs: 19% of drivers sped, hedges can cost you

NewsUpdated 12 September 2026

19% of drivers have accidentally broken the speed limit after not being able to see a road sign obscured by foliage, according to an RAC release dated 12 September 2026. The same research found 94% of drivers polled have seen road signs covered by overhanging branches, trees or hedges, with 51% seeing signs in this state frequently. For homeowners, the exposure runs the other way: local authorities can serve a notice requiring foliage to be removed within 14 days under section 154 of the Highways Act 1980, and if that notice is ignored the council can do the work and send the homeowner the bill. Homeowners can also be prosecuted under section 137 of the Highways Act 1980 for wilfully obstructing a highway, with a penalty of up to 51 weeks imprisonment or a fine of up to £1,000. The RAC poll found 58% of those surveyed did not know about the 14-day notice power.

TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 19% of drivers have accidentally broken the speed limit after not being able to see a road sign obscured by foliage, according to an RAC release dated 12 September 2026. The same research found 94% of drivers polled have seen road signs covered by overhanging branches, trees or hedges, with 51% seeing signs in this state frequently. For homeowners, the exposure runs the other way: local authorities can serve a notice requiring foliage to be removed within 14 days under section 154 of the Highways Act 1980, and if that notice is ignored the council can do the work and send the homeowner the bill. Homeowners can also be prosecuted under section 137 of the Highways Act 1980 for wilfully obstructing a highway, with a penalty of up to 51 weeks imprisonment or a fine of up to £1,000. The RAC poll found 58% of those surveyed did not know about the 14-day notice power.

19% of drivers have accidentally broken the speed limit after not being able to see a road sign obscured by foliage, per an RAC release dated 12 September 2026.
94% of drivers polled have seen road signs covered by overhanging branches, trees or hedges, and 51% frequently see signs in this state.
The most commonly obscured signs are speed limit, stop and give way signs; 21% missed a turn, 13% had to brake sharply and 5% accidentally ignored a give way sign.
80% of drivers say overgrown foliage has made it difficult to safely pull out of a junction or roundabout.

KEY FACTS

Drivers who sped: 19% broke the speed limit after a sign was hidden by foliage
How common: 94% have seen signs covered by branches, trees or hedges; 51% see it often
Other effects: 21% missed a turn, 13% braked sharply, 5% ignored a give way sign
Junctions: 80% say overgrowth makes pulling out of a junction or roundabout harder
Council powers: 14-day notice to cut back under s154 Highways Act 1980; council can do the work and bill the homeowner
Prosecution: s137 Highways Act: obstruction can mean a fine up to £1,000 or up to 51 weeks in prison

What the RAC poll found

The RAC release dated 12 September 2026 sets out the scale of the problem in three numbers. First, 19% of drivers have accidentally broken the speed limit after not being able to see a road sign obscured by foliage. That is not a small minority of the driving public. It is roughly one in five drivers who have, at some point, exceeded a limit because the sign telling them what that limit was could not be read. The figure matters because it links a visual obstruction on the roadside directly to an offence committed behind the wheel, and it is the headline number in the RAC's findings.

Second, 94% of drivers polled have seen road signs covered by overhanging branches, trees or hedges. Third, 51% frequently see signs in this state. Taken together, the two figures describe a problem that is close to universal in visibility and common in frequency. Almost every driver has encountered a hidden sign, and around half encounter one often enough to call it a frequent sight. The RAC survey was conducted by Online95, which polled 1,412 UK drivers for the RAC in August 2026, rim-weighted to be nationally representative. The most commonly obscured signs are speed limit, stop and give way signs. Those are the signs that carry the most immediate consequences when they are missed, because they govern how fast a driver may travel and whether a driver must stop or yield.

Missed turns and near misses

The RAC poll did not stop at sign visibility. It asked what happened when signs were hidden, and the answers describe a chain of driving errors and near misses. 21% of drivers missed a turn. 13% had to brake sharply. 5% accidentally ignored a give way sign. Each of those outcomes is a moment where the road environment failed to communicate with the driver in time, and the driver had to react to a situation they had not been warned about. A missed turn is an inconvenience. Sharp braking is a risk to the driver and to anyone behind. Ignoring a give way sign is the most serious of the three, because give way signs exist to allocate priority at junctions where a collision is otherwise likely.

The poll also found that 80% of drivers say overgrown foliage has made it difficult to safely pull out of a junction or roundabout. That figure is about sightlines rather than signs. A driver waiting to emerge needs to see approaching traffic, and vegetation that spills over a boundary can block that view. The combination of the two findings is significant. Foliage can hide the sign that tells a driver what to do, and it can also hide the traffic a driver needs to see before doing it. The RAC spokesperson Harriet Hernando urged homeowners to check whether plants, branches or hedges on their property spill onto a public road or pavement after the wet weeks following a dry summer. That instruction connects the driving data to the household task, because the growth that obscures a sign or a sightline usually starts on private land.

What the law says about hedges on the highway

The legal position for homeowners is set out in two sections of the Highways Act 1980. Under section 154, local authorities can serve a notice requiring foliage to be removed within 14 days. If the notice is ignored, the council can do the work and send the homeowner the bill. That is a recharge, not a penalty, but it is a bill the homeowner did not choose and cannot refuse once the council has carried out the work. The RAC poll found 58% of those surveyed did not know this. The knowledge gap matters because the 14-day window is short, and a homeowner who does not know the notice exists may not act on it in time.

The second provision is section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, which covers wilfully obstructing a highway. A homeowner can be prosecuted under section 137, with a penalty of up to 51 weeks imprisonment or a fine of up to £1,000. The word wilfully is important, because it speaks to intent or at least to a conscious act. A prosecution under section 137 is a different order of exposure from a section 154 recharge. One is a bill for work the council arranged. The other is a criminal matter with a maximum custodial sentence, even if the fine at the lower end is modest by the standards of some motoring penalties. The two provisions sit alongside each other, and a homeowner whose hedge blocks a highway or a sign can face the administrative route, the criminal route, or both depending on the circumstances and the council's approach.

How to report a hidden sign

Obscured signs can be reported to the council. For motorways and major trunk roads, they can be reported to National Highways. The RAC website carries a FixMyStreet postcode reporting tool, which allows a report to be directed using a postcode rather than a description of the location. The reporting routes matter because the RAC poll suggests the problem is widespread and frequent, and a report is the mechanism by which a council becomes aware of a specific obstruction. A council cannot serve a section 154 notice on a homeowner if it does not know the foliage is there, and it cannot arrange for a sign to be cleared if no one has told it the sign is hidden.

The division of responsibility is straightforward in principle. Signs on local roads fall to the council. Signs on motorways and major trunk roads fall to National Highways. The FixMyStreet tool on the RAC website provides a postcode based route into the reporting system. For drivers, the practical point is that a hidden sign is a hazard that can be logged rather than simply endured. For homeowners, the practical point is that a report about a hidden sign may lead to a notice about the foliage causing it. The same piece of overgrowth can be the subject of a driver's report and a homeowner's legal obligation, and the RAC's decision to publish both the driving data and the legal position reflects that link.

Analysis

Kael Tripton analysis: who carries the fine

The KT analysis is that the financial and legal exposure falls in two different places, and drivers and homeowners should not assume the other party carries the risk. For the driver, a hidden sign is not a defence to a speeding notice in most cases. The fixed penalty for speeding is £100 and three points. That means a driver who exceeds a limit because the speed limit sign was covered by foliage still faces the penalty in most cases. The exposure sits with the driver. The 19% figure from the RAC poll describes drivers who have accidentally broken the speed limit in these circumstances, and the word accidentally does not change the position on the notice. The sign being hidden is a fact about the road, but the offence is about the speed, and the enforcement process is built around the speed.

For the homeowner, the exposure is the council's bill under section 154 or a prosecution under section 137. The section 154 route produces a recharge for work the council arranges after a 14-day notice is ignored. The section 137 route produces a criminal penalty of up to 51 weeks imprisonment or a fine of up to £1,000. The homeowner does not face the £100 and three points, because that penalty attaches to the driver. The driver does not face the council's bill, because that attaches to the landowner. The two exposures are separate, and the RAC poll's finding that 58% of those surveyed did not know about the 14-day notice power suggests many homeowners are unaware of the side of the equation they occupy. The wet weeks following a dry summer, as Harriet Hernando noted, are the conditions in which growth accelerates, and the check she urged is the step that connects the two exposures: a homeowner who checks the boundary may remove the foliage that would otherwise hide a sign, and in doing so may remove both the driver's hazard and the homeowner's liability.

Source: RAC Media Centre.

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Kael Tripton reports releases from UK public bodies, operators, regulators and consumer brands, with your images credited and a link to your newsroom. Publication is an editorial decision and is never sold.

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DISCLAIMER

Survey figures are from an RAC-commissioned Online95 poll of 1,412 UK drivers, August 2026. Legal maximums are as set out in the Highways Act 1980; penalties in individual cases are for the courts.

Frequently asked questions

How many drivers have accidentally broken the speed limit after a sign was hidden by foliage?

19% of drivers have accidentally broken the speed limit after not being able to see a road sign obscured by foliage, according to the RAC release dated 12 September 2026.

How common are obscured road signs?

94% of drivers polled have seen road signs covered by overhanging branches, trees or hedges, and 51% frequently see signs in this state. The most commonly obscured signs are speed limit, stop and give way signs.

What does section 154 of the Highways Act 1980 allow councils to do?

Local authorities can serve a notice requiring foliage to be removed within 14 days under section 154 of the Highways Act 1980. If the notice is ignored, the council can do the work and send the homeowner the bill. 58% of those surveyed did not know this.

What is the penalty for obstructing a highway under section 137?

Homeowners can be prosecuted under section 137 of the Highways Act 1980 for wilfully obstructing a highway, with a penalty of up to 51 weeks imprisonment or a fine of up to £1,000.

How can a hidden road sign be reported?

Obscured signs can be reported to the council, or to National Highways for motorways and major trunk roads. The RAC website carries a FixMyStreet postcode reporting tool.

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