Are trees problematic to road-users?

There have been cases of trees planted on roadsides or pavements fell onto vehicles or pedestrians and resulted fatality or financial losses to the affected victims. When the mishap happens, time and again, our local council will single out nature and weather as the causes of the mishap. The noticeable causes quoted by the authorities are thunder storms, soil erosion and movement and decaying trunks and roots. The reasons given seemed exonerating the responsibilities of the local council.


Are the incidents of falling trees onto roads, vehicles and pedestrians avoidable ? Surely the answer is no but it can be minimized if the local council is to take prudent and supervisory measures on its road widening or reconstruction. With the increase in traffic volume, local council has been embarking road widening to ease the congestion. Pavements and sidewalks have been narrowed. In the so-called road widening, trees planted on the pavements with their roots that have long penetrated deeply into the ground are being uprooted and exposed. The widening work is completed only with the exposed roots covered with mixture of thin layer of mud and soil beneath a layer of concrete. With this thin layering and leveling, are these trees with some of its roots just beneath the pavements strong enough to stand against the wind in the storming weather ? Surely not! Road widening is on-going process and trees on the pavement is the common panoramic view, In view of this, comprehensive study should be in place before the commencement of road-widening to ensure the safety of both vehicles and pedestrians.

Another common scene to the road users is cutting branches off the trees to avoid street lamps being obstructed and resting birds dropping. Heavy vehicles like sky lifts are required to perform the task and they are parked at the road side to do the cutting and trimming the trees, this will definitely cause traffic jam as vehicles are made crawling past. Cutting branches and trimming the trees will never end as branches will not stop growing, therefore, the activity of cutting and trimming will continue unless a replacement or solution can be found. Areca catechu or Pinang trees or pokok Pinang with few branches are abundant and common in our country. Why these trees are not chosen for some areas in urban areas ? If we are open to the concept of “ right tree for the right place “, existing problems can be minimized if not completely solved. There are many shapes and forms of trees, narrow, columnar, umbrella , pyramid, vase-shaped etc and also various heights. Choice of shapes and heights to suit the planting space in city streets or driveway surely will ease, to some extend , the existing felling of branches and its trimming work. If not the best, at least better solutions can be found to minimize the traffic woes for road-users whose time has been wasted unnecessarily.