Pot hole takes out a van and an ambulance

Pot hole takes out a van and an ambulance

Author
Discussion

a340driver

Original Poster:

486 posts

169 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
I wonder how this claim will go?

https://www.wiltshire999s.co.uk/driver-pothole-hit...

The VW van hit a pothole which tore off one of the wheels and the van collided with an ambulance as a result!

dxg

9,329 posts

274 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
This is why I make all efforts to avoid "puddles" these days.

It's rather taken the fun out of it.

LunarOne

6,297 posts

151 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
I wonder. According to the recent Porsche 911 vs pothole incident where a 911 crashed into a house and killed its driver after hitting a pothole, it is a driver's responsibility to see and avoid potholes, a claim which I find completely nonsensical. It's not always possible to see potholes, especially if they look like a puddle or it's night and the road is unlit, or you're blinded by oncoming vehicles. Yet these potholes are defects in the road and in my opinion are the responsibility of councils to fix. As long as drivers pay a road fund licence (whether it's ringfences for roadbuilding and maintenance or not) they should expect not to have to contend with potholes littering the roads. In my opinion the council is 100% to blame. If a pothole can rip the wheel off a van, imagine what it can do to a cyclist or motorcyclist. Imagine if the ambulance had hit the pothole and had been carrying a patient on a blue light run? The UK's roads are falling into a terrible state and have been for many years.

The conservative government/councils didn't fix the roads because it wanted to keep taxes as low as possible to bribe people into voting for it. Labour won't fix the roads because cars are apparently evil and we should be levered out of them one way or another. The situation seems hopeless.

Digga

43,170 posts

297 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
At what point is the state of the roads not an actual national emergency? It’s dangerous, costly to everyone and a blight on living standards.

I cannot see how all liability’s not with the state in incidents with potholes. The roads should for the respective, designated speed limits.

Mr Tidy

26,612 posts

141 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
Surely the local highway authority should have done something about it?

A pothole 120mm deep doesn't appear overnight!

I got a weekly update from Surrey County Council Highways this afternoon saying they are putting cameras in their vehicles that will use AI to photograph and locate potholes, so the more miles they do the better!

OutInTheShed

11,187 posts

40 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
Mr Tidy said:
..

A pothole 120mm deep doesn't appear overnight!
..r!
Sinkholes 12m deep appear overnight.

Saleen836

11,852 posts

223 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
Digga said:
At what point is the state of the roads not an actual national emergency? It’s dangerous, costly to everyone and a blight on living standards.

I cannot see how all liability’s not with the state in incidents with potholes. The roads should for the respective, designated speed limits.
How long before they start reducing speed limits stating it is safer due to the potholes?

popeyewhite

23,007 posts

134 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
Saleen836 said:
Digga said:
At what point is the state of the roads not an actual national emergency? It’s dangerous, costly to everyone and a blight on living standards.

I cannot see how all liability’s not with the state in incidents with potholes. The roads should for the respective, designated speed limits.
How long before they start reducing speed limits stating it is safer due to the potholes?
One has opened up near me in the middle of a dual carriageway at a pedestrian crossing used by schoolkids. Once a couple of children have twisted their ankles you can bet the hole will be sorted posthaste.

ImbackYo

413 posts

26 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
Digga said:
At what point is the state of the roads not an actual national emergency? It’s dangerous, costly to everyone and a blight on living standards.

I cannot see how all liability’s not with the state in incidents with potholes. The roads should for the respective, designated speed limits.
You'll get the utter melts along in a minute telling you its your fault and ypu should have 3 pairs of eyes.

That's the issue atm in the uk, we put up and shut up. Have a look at the ANPR/AI and insurance threads for an idea of how compliant we've become. As long as we have cucks in our society government will ignore the issue. Its horrendous where we are. My daughter is 2 wheels/tyres in atm.

Anyone know what the death and injury numbers are as a direct result of a pot hole?


Digga

43,170 posts

297 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
Saleen836 said:
How long before they start reducing speed limits stating it is safer due to the potholes?
That won’t wash. There are potholes the size of which no speed is safe on two wheels, especially at night. I was in West Yorkshire yesterday and joined the Woodhead Pass from Huddersfield side, on a road only just reopened due to snow. The roads up there in the Pennines are in a preposterously bad way - like the surface of a planet showered, through the millennia by asteroids. Still there’s guys and girls in Lycra risking life and limb on their road bicycles. Rather them than me.

mcpoot

948 posts

121 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
OutInTheShed said:
Mr Tidy said:
..

A pothole 120mm deep doesn't appear overnight!
..r!
Sinkholes 12m deep appear overnight.
Fail to see any relevance to your comment.

dhutch

16,209 posts

211 months

Sunday 26th January
quotequote all
a340driver said:
I wonder how this claim will go?

https://www.wiltshire999s.co.uk/driver-pothole-hit...

The VW van hit a pothole which tore off one of the wheels and the van collided with an ambulance as a result!
What a mess.

mac96

5,060 posts

157 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
popeyewhite said:
Saleen836 said:
Digga said:
At what point is the state of the roads not an actual national emergency? It’s dangerous, costly to everyone and a blight on living standards.

I cannot see how all liability’s not with the state in incidents with potholes. The roads should for the respective, designated speed limits.
How long before they start reducing speed limits stating it is safer due to the potholes?
One has opened up near me in the middle of a dual carriageway at a pedestrian crossing used by schoolkids. Once a couple of children have twisted their ankles you can bet the hole will be sorted posthaste.
You need to pick a couple of suitable kids and give them £10 each to twist their ankles..

Glenn63

3,407 posts

98 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
The Lancashire pothole reporting page says it must be at least 40mm deep before reporting, then they will assessed and decide if to take action.
40mm is a decent pothole already and could easily take a person off their bike.

Digga

43,170 posts

297 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
Glenn63 said:
The Lancashire pothole reporting page says it must be at least 40mm deep before reporting, then they will assessed and decide if to take action.
40mm is a decent pothole already and could easily take a person off their bike.
Yes, it's unbelievable that any highways department is allowed to set such ludicrously poor standards.

LunarOne

6,297 posts

151 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
Imagine if Network Rail left 40cm gaps in the rails and didn't bother to repair them? It would be a national scandal. I bet that section of road has as many users per day as an equivalent section of railway nearby.

Wills2

25,917 posts

189 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all

The state of our roads reflect the state of the country an utter mess, but then again what do we expect when the government has no money apart from the the £1.3 trillion they spent this FY managing our decline.




PaulD86

1,756 posts

140 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
Mr Tidy said:
A pothole 120mm deep doesn't appear overnight!
I wish that were true. Worst I've seen - under 48 hours from nothing to 300mm deep. Yes, it can happen. Yes the relevant roads authority should respond. Yes potholes should be reported (ideally directly to the local authority via their online reporting portal (most have one) rather than a 3rd party like "fix my street").

Fortnightly or monthly is generally the most frequent any UK road will be inspected and a lot can happen in that time. This is why reporting is a good idea. People assume the roads authority must know about a pothole, but while they might, if eveyone assumes that then it will be the next routine inspection when it's picked up. You may be surprised how often large potholes go unreported as "someone else will have".

Digga

43,170 posts

297 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
What I am noticing a lot is gullies and drains (which have not been emptied or maintained) are either overflowing and causing water/frost potholes, or, worse yet, are collapsing underground and causing either severe haunching or potholes in the kerbside edge of the road.

Scarletpimpofnel

1,086 posts

32 months

Monday 27th January
quotequote all
LunarOne said:
I wonder. According to the recent Porsche 911 vs pothole incident where a 911 crashed into a house and killed its driver after hitting a pothole, it is a driver's responsibility to see and avoid potholes, a claim which I find completely nonsensical. It's not always possible to see potholes, especially if they look like a puddle or it's night and the road is unlit, or you're blinded by oncoming vehicles. Yet these potholes are defects in the road and in my opinion are the responsibility of councils to fix. As long as drivers pay a road fund licence (whether it's ringfences for roadbuilding and maintenance or not) they should expect not to have to contend with potholes littering the roads. In my opinion the council is 100% to blame. If a pothole can rip the wheel off a van, imagine what it can do to a cyclist or motorcyclist. Imagine if the ambulance had hit the pothole and had been carrying a patient on a blue light run? The UK's roads are falling into a terrible state and have been for many years.

The conservative government/councils didn't fix the roads because it wanted to keep taxes as low as possible to bribe people into voting for it. Labour won't fix the roads because cars are apparently evil and we should be levered out of them one way or another. The situation seems hopeless.
As with everything government based you pay your money (woe betide if you don't) and then they may or may not provide you with a service of sorts for that money. Absolute shambles.

Meanwhile in the private sector you pay your money and the government has layers of laws and protections to ensure you do get the service/goods you have paid for.

Examples: You pay your road fund license and they may or may not provide you with roads fit to drive on. You pay your NI and you may or may not get treated sometime this decade for a condition you have.

Add to the government's woeful inability to provide any service correctly they then offload the responsibility to others. Example: Border Farce/Home Office ferry thousands to the UK every week and seem unable to deal with them BUT if a private landlord happens to let his/her house to one of such illegals the landlord gets prosecuted for doing so YET the useless government who let them in takes no blame.

Government services are all a ferking shambles, zero ownership of the service or outcome by anyone at any level..