On 17 Mar 2006 05:47:23 -0800, wrote:


If you do decide to cut more roots be very careful not to weaken the
tree's support. Some tree's roots grow very close to the surface
and when you cut them the tree can become unstable. A few years back
in my neighborhood, a guy was replacing his sidewalk and he cut some
tree roots back to have a nice level walk. Six months later the tree
came down in a light windstorm and landed on a passing car, killing a
4-year-old girl in the car.

Wow. Terrible.

I worried about my tree falling down when I cut a couple of its roots.

A pine tree.

I think it's too far from the street for this to hit a car.

I lost track of the story but I believe
the guy ended up going to jail. It was proven that his actions of
cutting what he thought were just a few roots undermined the tree's
support.

It would take more than just that.

That this would happen would have to be foreseeable by that person
(not judged by the same standards as a tree surgeon, but by the
standards of an average person) for him to be negligent. I guess it
might be since I thought of it in advance, and I'm not especially
educated in this. But to be criminally negligent, I thought more,
that is, worse behaviour than mere negligence, was required. Maybe he
was told not to do it? By a gardener or someone? Maybe he *was* a
tree surgeon?

Be careful cutting roots.