They're Chopping Down Innocent Trees in Alabama

I have family in the Birmingham, Alabama region. Upon graduating from medical school, my brother-in-law Jim accepted a position at the University of Alabama Birmingham's Medical Center.

Then in early 2002, after my Dad died, Mom moved to Alabama to be near my sister. Since then, I've been going to Birmingham at least twice a year to visit. Actually, it's Mountain Brook, Alabama. You may have heard that name.....Natalee Holloway, the girl who disappeared in Aruba was from Mountain Brook.

Anyway, it was this past January and I was driving on US 31 in Vestavia Hills, just south of Birmingham and I noticed that all of the trees in the median had been cut down. These were nice trees and I couldn't figure out why they were no longer there.

I asked my sister who lives there and she told me that some parents of a drunk guy who got killed were able to get the state to remove the trees.

I've done a little research here. Apparently, an Alabama man lost control of his car around 4 AM one night and hit a tree in the median and he and his passenger were killed. The speedometer stopped on 60 mph. The blood that was taken somehow got lost, so we don't know if the man was drunk or not, but witnesses placed him and the other passenger in a bar earlier that night.

The dead guy's parents launched a campaign against those "deadly" trees and the Alabama Department of Transportation, in an effort to reduce their liability, is removing all trees with a trunk diameter in excess of 4 inches and replacing them with other plants that wouldn't be as deadly should a car hit them. The department said it was just addressing "clear zone" requirements that are spelled out in federal and state highway guidelines.

On the plus side, these trees were Bradford Pear trees, which horticulturists don’t like because they have weak wood and easily get damaged in storms. (Although they were strong enough to stop a car that hit them at 60 mph!)

I wonder if the next time someone crosses the median in Vestavia Hills, or elsewhere in Alabama, and there are no trees to stop them, will an innocent passerby or oncoming vehicle get slammed into to? It still seems weird that the focus here is on the trees and not the more obvious "drinking and driving issue”, but I can't help the feeling that the trees are “taking the fall”.