This rings a bell. I remember coming across something to do with tree lined
streets having the effect of slowing down traffic. I shall think hard over
the weekend, so if you hear a grinding noise in the East London area, its my
brain trying to get into gear. Hopefully somebody else reading this may
know of the particular research.
It seems to make sense; if you were driving along a flat barren stretch of
road, you wouldn't have the same perception of speed and may be inclined to
drive fast; whereas a tree lined road may have the opposite effect due to
the parallax effect; i.e. distant objects appearing to move slowly while
near objects move by much quicker although you are driving along at the same
speed. So tree lined streets may make you think you are driving faster than
you are so you may be inclined to slow down more. Mind you, I don't think
the local joyriders give 2 hoots about the parallax effect.
The other way to do it, of course, is to plant trees in the road rather than
on the pavement. That'll make the bounders slow down!! We have old
photographs here showing some old Chestnuts actually growing in the road
just off the side of the pavement. Needless to say, they've now gone and
been replaced by (not) fastigiate hornbeam, mundanely sitting on the
pavement. Highway engineers just aren't imaginative these days!
Regards
Tony
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