12/02/2024
After a tragic incident this week involving a tree in the Adelaide Parklands, there is a need to talk about the risks that trees pose and to put this risk in perspective, especially given some of the sensationalist media coverage that followed.
Common sense should prevail when it comes to managing trees. A 2019 report from Arboriculture Australia found that the risk of being killed by a tree is 1 in 5,000,000. The risk of being killed by a tree while inside your house is 1 in 189,000,000.
So how does this compare to other common risks in our society? The risk of dying from:
- A melanoma β 1 in 13,500 (AIHW 2017b)
- Driving β 1 in 20,000 (BITRE 2017)
- Being murdered β 1 in 100,000 (Australian Institute of Criminology 2017)
- Falling off a chair β 1 in 1,000,000 (ABS 2013)
The chance of being struck by lightning is 1 in 12,000. For those that lie in bed worrying about the tree that may kill them as they sleep, should be aware that they are 450 times more likely to die from falling out of that bed than by a tree (ABS 2013).
What has been profoundly disappointing is the sensationalist clickbait headlines generated by a particular newspaper on this terrible situation. Instead of reporting facts β like all local government areas do audits on trees in public spaces. Headlines like βThe stateβs horror history of freak branch falls revealedβ do nothing to help the situation. There have been four tree related incidents in four years, three of which the person involved tragically died. In the same period, 388 people have died in car accidents. It is fundamentally shameful journalism all designed to make a quick buck off a terribly sad situation and whip people into an unnecessary hysteria.