Yesterday nearly two hundred people broke the law and demonstrated to try and stop Roads and Traffic Authority ( RTA ) work crews from making a notorious stretch of road safe.
This eight hundred metre section had an appalling crash history and death record because trees encroached on either side of the roadway. It was littered with the tokens grieving relatives leave to remind others that a death occurred at this spot.
There were arrests - but eventually sanity prevailed and trees were removed to make this section of road safer for the motoring public.
In recent years a " tree huggers " mentality has arisen that demands that no tree be cut down - nomatter what the circumstances or what danger it imposes.
To some extent this is connected with global warming. Trees are this planet's lungs and the more trees we have the more carbon dioxide is removed. Unfortunately, in some people's minds the saving of trees takes on an irrational momentum.
Home owners found it almost impossible to get council clearance to remove dangerous trees - until a spate of deaths from trees felled by storms resulted in litigation and damages against municipal authorities.
Suddenly, there was a change of heart. Now councils almost rush to sign a tree removal order to avoid possible court action.
The RTA action in clearing trees from a dangerous section of road in the southern highlands highlights the balance between the need for trees and the risk to human life. The number of people killed annually when cars run off a road and hit a tree can be sharply reduced should the RTA adopt a policy of a mandatory buffer zone between road carriageways and the nearest line of trees.
There was no problem in the horse and cart era - but as the motor car continued to evolve two things happened. The number of cars climbed astronomically - and the speed at which they travel increased.
Common sense dictates that where the life of a human or the life of a tree can not co-exist - loser has to be the tree. The tree huggers who can not get this point live in la-la land !
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