Long gone are the days of old where you can just sit in your house and wait out the winter once it starts snowing and the weather gets bad. Now, you’ll most likely still have to venture out of your neighborhood to go to work and school or buy groceries. And unless you live in a big city with a good public transportation system, chances are you’re going to have to get in your car and drive.
The bad weather that winter brings can cause some serious problems when it comes to driving. Snow piles up, making it difficult to control your car. There aren’t many things you can do to try to make that better besides get a car with four wheel drive, limit your driving in the snow and shovel as much snow as you can. You never want to be in a situation in the car where you lose control. However, there are other dangers that can arise from winter weather rather than just loss of control of a car.
Trees can also pose a threat to drivers in times of harsh winter weather. Tree limbs tend to sag under the weight of snow and ice and have the possibility to obstruct your sight while driving. Roadside tree trimming helps make trees safer for drivers because trimming the trees away from the road allows for a clear line of sight.
But don’t worry about finding the funds for this to happen. Your taxes most likely already take care of it. Typically the county takes care of the trimming on the county roads and the state takes care of the trimming on the state roads. But occasionally the state will put out a bid for a local contractor to do the work for them at the best price if they need additional help. If you live in the country and have lots of roads on your private drive, however, you might need to keep up with some of the trimming on these roads on your own.
This is a job that can potentially be quite large, depending on the amount of trees that need to be trimmed. This is also a reason that the government sometimes puts out a bid for tree trimming. Sometimes congestion on the roads where the trees are being trimmed can also slow down the process.
Another important area to trim trees is near your house or garage. If you have a lot of branches that hang over your house AND your garage this can potentially be a problem if there is a strong winter storm or if there is a lot of snow and ice that weighs the branches down. Don’t forget when you are taking care of the branches over your house to also check any that might be harmful to your deck or garage if you have them, because if those fall they can also cause damage that will be expensive to repair.
Stewart Scott is the owner and operator of Cevet Tree Care, a tree trimming service provider in and around Columbia, Mo, for nearly 20 years.
