speeding

Lets hear it for the trees – now that the nation’s forests have been saved from being sold off like so much family silver, our sylvan buddies are already proving their positive worth as this article in the Daily Telegraph explains.

“A trial in Norfolk found that creating avenue of trees and hedges had a dramatic impact on motorists’ behaviour.”

The experiment at four villages showed that drivers dropped their speed because of the cut in their peripheral vision.

In all there was a 20 per cent drop in the number of motorists driving at 40 to 60mph and overall average speeds fell by 1.5 per cent.

At the same time trees were regarded as more suitable for the countryside than other traffic calming methods which are used in towns.

Parish councils have told the Department for Transport that the trees not only reduced speeding but also softened the landscape.