whomped by a vehicle?
Apart from torn bark, the trunk of a tree that is no more than 300mm in
diameter will be unscathed if collected by a modern vehicle in a side-on
impact.
In fact, the tree will withstand the impact slightly better than a timber
power pole of the same diameter as the living wood has more resilience and
shock-absorbing qualities.
I have seen an immature Plane Tree with a Mercedes 300 sedan folded around
it and all four occupants were dead on impact.
The car had to be prised apart to get it off the tree and most of the damage
to the trunk of the tree was done during that operation.
Bruce.