Potholes Galaore

[Sam Vimes]

Not whiskey but potholes.

Most people on Skye would agree that our roads are worse than some third world places. Get off of Skye and things get better.

In the last 6 or 7 years I've had 3 rear coil springs brake. Two on my previous car and now one on the current one.

We go home from Stirling last week (not towing) and just turned into the driveway when there was an enormous 'Dong' which resonated around the car. Its booked into the local garage on Thursday.

I took the rear wheels off this morning so that I could give the garage more details about the problem and yes, the offside coil spring is fractured at the bottom.

Some of the potholes are so bad that if you listen closely to them you can hear 'Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Hi Ho' etc and the sound of tiny pickaxes.
I've got to know the worst spots and avoid most of them but more appear in the bad weather and in the dark and rain its not always easy to avoid them, especially when there's a vehicle coming the other way.

Its possible to claim from the Highland Council but proving the damage was done by the bad roads isn't easy.

 

[Martin_E]

Down the road from me yesterday I heard a siren heading towards Minehead , thought nothing more of it until a few minutes later I was sat in a string of traffic, the police putting on high viz jackets (it was almost light) went past them and there was 9 cars parked/stopped in various positions, a few in a big road that go into a farm, a few stopped on the side of the road we had to weave past4 stopped in a small turnoff lane and three in a lay-by I know the day before they had been doing road works in that spot. Anyway on my way back several hours later there was one of the cars in the lay-by still, front jacked up with a wheel off, another vehicle in the head of the small lane with two punctures on the off side, two others in the lane for the large farm track, both with two punctures each. The cause a big pothole, one assumes the road repairers hadn’t got all the work done. I did stop and talk to the workmen/workpeople or whatever the PC thing is these days to tell them there was a static van on its way with three escort vehicles. I have no idea if the workpeople pulled up stumps the let this load through or not.
All I know is if I had left a few minutes earlier it could have been me with flat tyres 😱

 

[Beardy]

Not whiskey but potholes.

Most people on Skye would agree that our roads are worse than some third world places. Get off of Skye and things get better.

Do you report them?
In England and Wales it can be done very quickly on line, it looks like Scotland have a similar system.
I found that when I started reporting pot holes they were repaired within the week in most cases. On one occasion I reported a string of pot holes and warning signs were put up within a week but they were not repaired. A while later the road was closed for resurfacing .......... for three months!!!

Report a pothole

Report potholes on A roads, motorways and local roads to the council

www.gov.uk

 

[Sam Vimes]

Car went into the garage yesterday - they are all really busy up here and I wonder why

Two broken springs - one at the rear offside, one at the front near side. I'm not aware of hitting big potholes but maybe just continuous bumps off of the really bad road surfaces here.

Supposedly being fixed next Thursday.

 

[IanB1485]

If a pothole is reported then the council in question has to repair or face a court case of negligence , also if they have failed to carry out regular inspections ( some roads are required to be inspected once a year). This was explained in RIP off britain this very morning.

 

[Sam Vimes]

What they are supposed to do and what happens in reality are two completely different things.

 

[IanB1485]

@Sam Vimes and thats where you have them! even if they reject your claim , you take them to the small claims court and they won't have a leg to stand on, again this was the legal advice on today's edition of Rip off Britain

 

[JTQ]

Seems a country wide issue, roads in Hampshire have lots of potholes and edge breakup, sunken manholes and like hazards I know too well being also a cyclist and motorcyclist, frightening the consequences of finding one in a puddle etc.

Some are being left unaddressed for months, and I note even some of those repaired seem to re appear as if the repair technique itself was inadequate.

I know of third world places way worse, but we aren't supposed to set those as a standard and as motorist and local taxation payers we are very heavily paying for services. Also I know some close continental roads are a lot better kept , countries facing considerably harsher weather conditions; there the will is in place. Here a very sad state of affairs one where it seems nothing improves year on year, authority change on change, just we individually pay more and more, plus there are increasing numbers of individuals paying.

In part I think there are vehicles using our rural roads where these roads were never constructed for these vehicles. I don't think my cycle, my bike our Golf or even the Disco and caravan are those causing the damage, just it's us largely the ones paying into the pot for the inadequate patching up.

Then it is IMO likely to cost a fraction of the price to settle the few who make successful damage claims, than do the required job, and LA are charged with making cost saving where they can and not properly providing a service has to appeal in that aim.

 

[otherclive]

Seems a country wide issue, roads in Hampshire have lots of potholes and edge breakup, sunken manholes and like hazards I know too well being also a cyclist and motorcyclist, frightening the consequences of finding one in a puddle etc.

Some are being left unaddressed for months, and I note even some of those repaired seem to re appear as if the repair technique itself was inadequate.

I know of third world places way worse, but we aren't supposed to set those as a standard and as motorist and local taxation payers we are very heavily paying for services. Also I know some close continental roads are a lot better kept , countries facing considerably harsher weather conditions; there the will is in place. Here a very sad state of affairs one where it seems nothing improves year on year, authority change on change, just we individually pay more and more, plus there are increasing numbers of individuals paying.

In part I think there are vehicles using our rural roads where these roads were never constructed for these vehicles. I don't think my cycle, my bike our Golf or even the Disco and caravan are those causing the damage, just it's us largely the ones paying into the pot for the inadequate patching up.

I remember one journey up the Fosse to Leicester the potholes were so bad that I wrote to John ( two Jags) Prescott, then Minister, as the various councils seemed to be unable to make any improvements. I received a reply telling me how much money had been given to councils for such repairs. But even as repairs were carried out the patched repairs did not last long. It’s been endemic for years. A little while back I did comment to my wife that our local roads had improved, but the recent rains and sharp frosts had opened up potholes. Even going to Bristol last Thursday on the M4 sections of the motorway had started to loose the surface and caused suspension disturbance far more than you would expect on a high speed motorway.

 

[JTQ]

Then there is a properly resurfaced road gets cut up for installing services, not long after. Does nobody talk to each other anymore, and why are they not running more services off the actual carriage way rather than place them bang in the wheel tracks?

Near Whitely a new massive development, there they built a year or two back a lovely off carriageway cycleway, only to have ripped it all out this last year to build a wider road, before I could get myself out there to use it, just madness surely these new developments are planned over years, not weeks.