What is going to happen to our roads?
Discussion
The Councils will wriggle, and generally never pay. My Sister's car suffered a wheel/tyre write-off and the pothole had been marked - the Council said they weren't liable and she was welcome to try but would lose in court.
The procedure for reporting I use is to go via a third party site, otherwise the Council will lie about it ever being reported - the one I use is fillthathole.org.uk - there are others.
Lat year on one section of the A11 (where I swear my car was airborne for several yards) the potholes could clearly cause very serious damage to a motorcyclist. I reported it and Highways England gave a shameful reply which was a pack of lies saying it's checked every week to ensure it's safe etc, so when it still wasn't sorted 4 months later I went straight to the top! I emailed the local Police Commissioner, saying that I understood it wasn't his job, but I didn't know where else to turn, attaching the Highways reply, politely pointing out the waste of salary to the guy who replied, and suggesting if the Commissioner was interested in road safety he passed on my comments, as Highways England would take no notice of me. The whole section of road was resurfaced within 6 weeks. Maybe we should all email our Police Commissioners, MP's (Theresa May) and anyone else in authority until someone does something?
The procedure for reporting I use is to go via a third party site, otherwise the Council will lie about it ever being reported - the one I use is fillthathole.org.uk - there are others.
Lat year on one section of the A11 (where I swear my car was airborne for several yards) the potholes could clearly cause very serious damage to a motorcyclist. I reported it and Highways England gave a shameful reply which was a pack of lies saying it's checked every week to ensure it's safe etc, so when it still wasn't sorted 4 months later I went straight to the top! I emailed the local Police Commissioner, saying that I understood it wasn't his job, but I didn't know where else to turn, attaching the Highways reply, politely pointing out the waste of salary to the guy who replied, and suggesting if the Commissioner was interested in road safety he passed on my comments, as Highways England would take no notice of me. The whole section of road was resurfaced within 6 weeks. Maybe we should all email our Police Commissioners, MP's (Theresa May) and anyone else in authority until someone does something?
Small mercy - hopefully it'll see the end of rubber band tyres on cars, and an end to "stance" once it's too much hassle to get around. Hopefully aftermarket suspension mods will start to take deteriorating surfaces into consideration and bring in the era of double-damper conversions and extra-travel kits... for Subaru's etc.
Cold said:
Ares said:
Furthermore, having a pothole, and in this case several potholes, on a blind bend, avoid them is not always easy.
In other words, you have a bad memory and your car has bad brakes and bad steering.Ares said:
3. Lazy workforce/lackadaisical management that allow workers to spend most of the day sat doing nothing, except at the holy tea break, then it's a hive of activity.
Anyone sat in roadworks will see this first hand on majority of cases.
You know nothing about construction.Anyone sat in roadworks will see this first hand on majority of cases.
They wait for the tar, work like mad men then wait again.
Fastpedeller said:
The Councils will wriggle, and generally never pay. My Sister's car suffered a wheel/tyre write-off and the pothole had been marked - the Council said they weren't liable and she was welcome to try but would lose in court.
The procedure for reporting I use is to go via a third party site, otherwise the Council will lie about it ever being reported - the one I use is fillthathole.org.uk - there are others.
Lat year on one section of the A11 (where I swear my car was airborne for several yards) the potholes could clearly cause very serious damage to a motorcyclist. I reported it and Highways England gave a shameful reply which was a pack of lies saying it's checked every week to ensure it's safe etc, so when it still wasn't sorted 4 months later I went straight to the top! I emailed the local Police Commissioner, saying that I understood it wasn't his job, but I didn't know where else to turn, attaching the Highways reply, politely pointing out the waste of salary to the guy who replied, and suggesting if the Commissioner was interested in road safety he passed on my comments, as Highways England would take no notice of me. The whole section of road was resurfaced within 6 weeks. Maybe we should all email our Police Commissioners, MP's (Theresa May) and anyone else in authority until someone does something?
Oh yes I've had this.The procedure for reporting I use is to go via a third party site, otherwise the Council will lie about it ever being reported - the one I use is fillthathole.org.uk - there are others.
Lat year on one section of the A11 (where I swear my car was airborne for several yards) the potholes could clearly cause very serious damage to a motorcyclist. I reported it and Highways England gave a shameful reply which was a pack of lies saying it's checked every week to ensure it's safe etc, so when it still wasn't sorted 4 months later I went straight to the top! I emailed the local Police Commissioner, saying that I understood it wasn't his job, but I didn't know where else to turn, attaching the Highways reply, politely pointing out the waste of salary to the guy who replied, and suggesting if the Commissioner was interested in road safety he passed on my comments, as Highways England would take no notice of me. The whole section of road was resurfaced within 6 weeks. Maybe we should all email our Police Commissioners, MP's (Theresa May) and anyone else in authority until someone does something?
Reported a destroyed road to the council and they said it would be fixed, it wasn't. They told me they have monthly inspections.
I then chased it up six months later asking for copies of the monthly inspections and just reieved a bunch of lies back.
Really is frustrating.
spaximus said:
It is why people now get 4x4, speed bumps are a minor irritation and a pothole is unlikely to damage a wheel as the fat sidewall tyre takes the hit.
Yup... 215/75r15 beefy ATs on steel modulars with solid axle suspension. Still quick enough to overtake doddlers & great fun to roll about windy A roads at legal speeds. Really can't see the downside anymore, it's stress free commuting, particularly here in Scotland. Surrey County Council have made it pretty clear they have no intention of fixing most roads (unless of course you're one of the councillors in & around Kingston 
) One Tory councillor even suggested that potholes were an excellent speed calming measure and basically a reverse road hump and would force people to "drive better"
Quite a few of the roads near me are in a pretty bad way at the moment - after numerous years of overnight closures of the M3 and traffic being diverted via local routes, A30, etc, most roads have been torn up by the extra HGV's and cars using it overnight. The most that has been done is that an occasional pothole crew get sent out and chuck some filling in the biggest holes and leave the smaller ones next to them alone, which in a few weeks have themselves become a big hole.
These are the same areas of the A30 in and around Camberley that are in a fair old state. However it's been made clear that no repairs will be carried out because evidently the long awaited joy of The Meadows roundabout being reconstructed starting later this year will result in more construction traffic for the works over 18 months odd, which would just damage the road surface even more.
So basically it's a case of learn to live with it, accept it will get far worse over the next 2 years, and if you have a passenger ask them to be your rally co driver calling out when to weave left and right to avoid the craters.
) One Tory councillor even suggested that potholes were an excellent speed calming measure and basically a reverse road hump and would force people to "drive better" Quite a few of the roads near me are in a pretty bad way at the moment - after numerous years of overnight closures of the M3 and traffic being diverted via local routes, A30, etc, most roads have been torn up by the extra HGV's and cars using it overnight. The most that has been done is that an occasional pothole crew get sent out and chuck some filling in the biggest holes and leave the smaller ones next to them alone, which in a few weeks have themselves become a big hole.
These are the same areas of the A30 in and around Camberley that are in a fair old state. However it's been made clear that no repairs will be carried out because evidently the long awaited joy of The Meadows roundabout being reconstructed starting later this year will result in more construction traffic for the works over 18 months odd, which would just damage the road surface even more.
So basically it's a case of learn to live with it, accept it will get far worse over the next 2 years, and if you have a passenger ask them to be your rally co driver calling out when to weave left and right to avoid the craters.
Fastpedeller said:
It could be that (like most of us) he can't remember the 100 potholes on a journey each day, or maybe he couldn't take avoiding action because there was a car coming the other way? Maybe you 'cold' work for the Council?
So you're saying he has poor eyesight as well? Sounds like a dangerous combination. 
You think the roads are bad in a car, try a bicycle.
And as a cyclist here in the south west I'm pretty much forced to ride on the unclassified roads and country lanes to avoid heavy traffic on all of the A and B roads, and so the roads I ride on receive little or no maintenance ever.
Having to constantly swerve around potholes isn't exactly conducive to safe cycling, particularly in the dark when they are very difficult to see, or full of water, or there are cars following.
Road funding is yet another victim of the Conservative government's ideologically-driven agenda of cutting public spending to the bone, perhaps so they can offer tax cuts to bribe voters ahead of the next general election...
And as a cyclist here in the south west I'm pretty much forced to ride on the unclassified roads and country lanes to avoid heavy traffic on all of the A and B roads, and so the roads I ride on receive little or no maintenance ever.
Having to constantly swerve around potholes isn't exactly conducive to safe cycling, particularly in the dark when they are very difficult to see, or full of water, or there are cars following.
Road funding is yet another victim of the Conservative government's ideologically-driven agenda of cutting public spending to the bone, perhaps so they can offer tax cuts to bribe voters ahead of the next general election...
Ares said:
NO!! I haven't said that. You can only make a claim if the council knew about it.
....you obviously missed the bit where I said "Making them pay is a whole different ball game....!!!"
Sorry, when you were talking about them not having a leg to stand on I assumed you thought that as they knew about it they had to pay. ....you obviously missed the bit where I said "Making them pay is a whole different ball game....!!!"
Also, you can claim for damage even if the council didn't know about it but you'll end up in court giving evidence that their safety inspector missed it on their routine inspection. It's quite a complicated system and usually not worth it for chasing the costs of pothole damage, more for your dodgy compensation lot!
Ares said:
Roger Irrelevant said:
bobbo89 said:
Ares said:
From what I've discovered, it doesn't matter it's deemed category, if damage has been cause by a known defect, the council are liable.
Making them pay is a whole different ball game....!!!
So from the second you put the phone down having reported it, the council then becomes liable for any damage caused and must pay out to anyone who makes a claim? Making them pay is a whole different ball game....!!!
Trust me, it really isn't that simple!
Someone mentioned that there is a £400m hole in the budget to repair roads.
According to Google there are £25m cars on the road in UK currently.
So how about a one off tax of an extra £100 for every car at next tax renewal?
That should see us straight for a good few years. Councils can't magic money for repairs, maybe we just need to stump up a bit more cash?
According to Google there are £25m cars on the road in UK currently.
So how about a one off tax of an extra £100 for every car at next tax renewal?
That should see us straight for a good few years. Councils can't magic money for repairs, maybe we just need to stump up a bit more cash?
kambites said:
Speak for yourself. I've driven in about half of countries in the EU and a good few outside it and I've encountered very few places with better roads than Hampshire and an awful lot which are much, much worse.
I live in Hampshire and whilst a lot of the roads are fine, a lot of them are terrible!A ring fenced 1p a litre addition to fuel duty would fill a £400m black hole in just over a year, based on a typical 36 billion retail litres of fuel sold in a year, as well as provide a healthy fund for ongoing maintenance.
If it was clear that the money would go to the road network and not get lost/wasted on other stuff, I'd happily support it. Something needs to be done.
If it was clear that the money would go to the road network and not get lost/wasted on other stuff, I'd happily support it. Something needs to be done.
Ares said:
3. Lazy workforce/lackadaisical management that allow workers to spend most of the day sat doing nothing, except at the holy tea break, then it's a hive of activity.
Anyone sat in roadworks will see this first hand on majority of cases.
I'd disagree that the workforce is lazy, just poorly managed. I'd bet the majority of the cases of people just sitting there are because they haven't been given a job to do and aren't permitted to do anything unless told to. It goes back to my second point about "license to bill".Anyone sat in roadworks will see this first hand on majority of cases.
Often in any engineering project, you're waiting for something else to be done before others can continue their work, competent project managers try to limit this downtime as people sitting around cost money.
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