Philip Sweeney reports on the battle that is currently raging over the famous arbres d'alignement, the archetypal avenues of plane trees that line some of France's most beautiful rural roads. Keen to lower their appalling road accident statistics, local councils are turning to the trees in their search for a scapegoat, claiming that their removal would ensure that cars can no longer collide with them at high speeds, as they frequently do. But protesters, opposed to the felling of what are long-established national treasures, are making themselves heard. Producer Sara Davies
Dr Mark Porter on car crashes: page 28