I was driving from Inverell to Glen Innes, just after 2120 hrs, and caught up to one of the storms that lashed the State last night.
The Gwydir Hwy was littered with tree bark for some miles, bits of trees and in three cases by fallen trees.
Two of the trees had been run over by the semi-trailers that I passed that were heading towards Inverell (at slow speed, no one was going over 70 kph, and I was down to 50 a lot of the time).
One tree, a dead one, had fallen across both lanes and it was disguised by fallen bark.
I saw it at the last minute, braked, and bumped over the top section which fortunately was small in diametre; no damage.

The question that I ask, and I've asked it before (and in relevant places), is: why are trees that are tall enough to fall onto a roadway not removed or at he least, cut down to a safe height?
Most trees if cut down to a tall stump will shoot out branches (coppice) so the tree is not lost but road and overall safety is improved.

like with bushfires I suspect the worship of nature prevents people from applying commonsense.

Yes Is Mise, those trees are killers.

I can only wonder how many have died when fleeing a bushfire in a vehicle, only to be trapped by a tree fallen across narrow country roads.

They provide a camouflaged hiding place for suicidal Kangaroos to sit to bound out in front of cars, far too late for drivers to miss them. One of our important local roads is best avoided at night, due to this problem.

They also make overtaking more dangerous, as the prolific growth of saplings watered by the run off of roads reduce visibility, & develop into dangerous killers should driver leave the road.

I also don't like your stump idea. Stumps near the road are even worse killers, as they are often hidden by brush. The coppice grown new trunks are poorly attached to the parent stump, & are much more likely to be blown off the original stump as they get large, with a canopy to catch the wind.

I do agree no tree has any place with in it's height of any road.

We have some great suggestions for environmental vandalism here. Is Mise if your were in your Sherman tank at the time you could have blasted your way through.

//We have some great suggestions for environmental vandalism here.//

Oh give it a rest you disingenuous prick. You've already amply demonstrated that you don't actually give about the environment and it's painfully obvious that you're just being contrary because Is Mise started the thread.

Hey, take it easy Toni, don't you realise that the left are the new scourges of the uninformed voters !

Paul has got to get in some practise and where better to get started than on OLO ?