Avenues as transport routes
18th-century travellers were delighted to be travelling along an avenue. It served as orientation in the winter and at night, preventing carts straying off the road, while giving shade in the summer. And if they were travelling on a fruit-tree avenue in the late summer, it even offered provisions for the journey.
Growing traffic density and higher speeds result in people losing sight of the many positive sides of avenues. The discussion instead focusses on the possible hazards that avenues create for road traffic. The question of who is to blame for the often dramatic accidents – tree or driver – has already long been disputed. Some hold the trees to be the problem: they should not be bordering thoroughfares. Others insist that we should adapt our driving behaviour to local conditions and thus also to the respective avenues. This would be of a double benefit to motorists: they would protect themselves and others and at the same time enjoy the drive down the avenue.
Tree-related accidents and their consequences
Many motorists die in traffic accidents every year, some of which involve trees. It is hard to say how many of them have involved avenue trees, as accidents along avenues or involving street trees in general are rarely registered separately. Statements about the relationship between roadside trees and death by traffic accident thus cannot be inferred on the basis of the existing statistics. These accident statistics, nevertheless, spur a fierce debate over roadside trees.
Contra avenues
Virtually all European countries have ongoing debates over roadside trees. Sometimes all the trees are simply to be felled, sometimes old and decaying trees on busy main roads are to be cut down and not replaced, sometimes they are to be hidden behind crash barriers, and sometimes new trees are to be planted only at a great distance from the roadside or on small country roads and lanes.
This is neither practicable nor financially feasible and would result in the characteristic, ecologically important and beautiful avenues disappearing forever from our streetscapes.
Pro avenues
Many organisations and individuals throughout Europe are standing up to such plans. They are speaking out in favour of a reasonable balancing of interests between road safety and protection of such avenues and advocate achieving road safety on avenues through appropriate driving behaviour. Above all, drivers should be encouraged to drive more responsibly on tree-lined avenues. This could be achieved through a general reduction of vehicle speed on avenues, along with increased controls and targeted preparation of novice drivers for driving safely on avenues, including special driver safety training at the driving school. Passive safety equipment such as guardrails along particularly hazardous sections could also improve road safety. What is important in any case is to find a compromise that increases safety while preserving the distinctive character of tree-lined avenues.