Pot Holes

[Bper]

Well it's back in the news again

Motorists are sinking into pothole hell with our crumbling and dodgy roads causing 18,250 breakdowns so far this year.

The RAC says its patrols went out to more than 8,100 pothole breakdowns between April and June the highest number in five years. Heard today it would cost 14 billion to repair these.

[AndyN01]

It's bad on 4 wheels - think about what happens if you're on 2 and I'm not talking cyclists.

I know of at least one motorbike that's been written off, fortunately without too much "damage" to the rider. The council paid up - maybe it's cheaper to do that than actually repair the holes?

Andy.

[Cyker]

Every time I read something like this I feel so glad I ditched those low-profile tyres for the 15's!!  

They have been resurfacing roads here so I'll give them props for that, and they're using that new tarmac that is super silky  

I do wonder who does these fixes as the quality of repair has varied wildly - In some places they've just redone the whole section of road, while others they've done just a patch, but precision and imperceptibly flat. On the other hand, some they've just slathered tarmac into the gap so badly that it's already been pushed out by heavy vehicles!

[Haliotis]

On a previous car, I hit a broken drain cover where some roadworks were in operation. This happened during darkness and rainy weather. One of my alloys was badly scuffed.

reporting the matter to the local authority I was told that, as it had not been previously reported, they would not accept responsibility.  So, it would seem that the person to first report it, if their vehicle is damaged, would have to bear repair costs themselves.  I wonder if this is a standard ploy across most, if not all, authorities?

[PCM]

1 minute ago, Haliotis said:

 So, it would seem that the person to first report it, if their vehicle is damaged, would have to bear repair costs themselves.  I wonder if this is a standard ploy across most, if not all, authorities?

I believe it is.

[Bper]

If you can establish that the council hasn't adhered to it's maintenance schedule then you can make a claim. It is correct if a pothole has not been reported then they will deny liability,but it would be worth trying the maintenance schedule root before you give up.👍

[Roy124]

The best surfacing,  I have read, is tar and chip.  Provided the underlying surface is sound this gives a good seal.

Last year they prepared our lane prior to tar and chip.  The previous surface had come loose and frost fractured.  However they did not remove a significant part of the old tarmac.

Before they repair team got there we nipped out with spades,  dug out the damaged parts and bits that were not quite bad.  We then brushed the holes and cut back grass that had encroached.   We our intervention we had the road resurfaced about half a metre wider and no potholes. 

The cut and patch is the next best repair.  We do need to keep hitting Highways to get it fixed.

[Rhymes with Paris]

You are spot on there Roy,as you say what's underneath is the most important.

If the base course and sub base is unsound, then any amount of subsequent work will be in vain and sink and fracture.

When patching wearing course,ie the top surface, it is critical to seal the edges with hot bitumen.

This can be seen when the road workers run a galvanized watering can around the patch to form a watertight seal.

As you have noticed, once water gets under there it eventually freezes,expands and heaves the surface upwards, letting more water in to freeze, and so on.

Even in areas where there is no freezing, maybe Devon and Cornwall, the water erodes the base course and sub base, and the surface sinks.

Either way,not doing it properly is a waste of time and money .

[FROSTYBALLS]

Even when repairs are made, problems may occur -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66301664

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Aye Frosty,it all falls apart when the surface is calculated to the wrong level.

As you may know the levels are usually worked out from the existing level of the kerb, unless of course this level has changed,or have to start again from bench marks.

And then calculated to reduced levels for any damaged substrate to be replaced, taking into account the camber and access points.

For instance where I live, the re surfacing being raised without re calculation has resulted in a steep camber in a narrow cul de sac, and the driveways drop down sharply, and then sharply up onto the camber.

Every day I hear the crunch of front spoilers being mangled by this, while turning on driveways when ignoring the no through road sign at the top of the close.

There is a turning circle at the top end, but strangely most of 'em  don't see this, and charge up a private driveway, and then down onto the steep camber , damaging their cars.

[Yugguy1970]

On 7/24/2023 at 7:03 PM, Bper said:

Well it's back in the news again

Motorists are sinking into pothole hell with our crumbling and dodgy roads causing 18,250 breakdowns so far this year.

The RAC says its patrols went out to more than 8,100 pothole breakdowns between April and June the highest number in five years. Heard today it would cost 14 billion to repair these.

I follow Top Gear facebook page and the commenters on there are hilarious.  They basically hate anything that isn't a v8 wih rockhard suspension and they can't understand why anyone would want anything different.

Last weekend I did 300 miles on waterlogged motorways and rutted country roads with floods several inches deep.

I was very, very glad to be in an awd Rav with 8 inches of ground clearance.

Approaching one such flood I had some ****** in a bmw right up my ****.

I carried on, he hadn't noticed it because he was too close to me, and flooded over his bonnet.

Hehehehehe.

[Roy124]

At our last home the road was raised higher than our drive which resulted in water run off.  The drop kerb was now lower than the road.

As it happens we had an insurance claim on our drive so we took the opportunity to replace the concrete with block paving laid on a concrete sub-base. 

I asked the bloke doing it to raise the drop kerb.   Not allowed, have to get the council to do it.

As the chance of Highways ever noticing he did it 😁

 

[Big_D]

11 hours ago, Haliotis said:

On a previous car, I hit a broken drain cover where some roadworks were in operation. This happened during darkness and rainy weather. One of my alloys was badly scuffed.

reporting the matter to the local authority I was told that, as it had not been previously reported, they would not accept responsibility.  So, it would seem that the person to first report it, if their vehicle is damaged, would have to bear repair costs themselves.  I wonder if this is a standard ploy across most, if not all, authorities?

So, the question is:

How do you know you are not the first person to report this. Every person trying to make a claim might be told by the council that they are the first person to report this. This means the council won;t have to pay any damages to anyone.

1 hour ago, Bper said:

If you can establish that the council hasn't adhered to it's maintenance schedule then you can make a claim. It is correct if a pothole has not been reported then they will deny liability,but it would be worth trying the maintenance schedule root before you give up.👍

I think this is the better approach

[Big_D]

Spotted this Council employee inspecting a pothole. Apparently it's not bad enough to warrant a repair.

[Cyker]

Fortunately there are ways - Each council is supposed to maintain a list on their website, where you can report pothole and other road defects, but also see already reported ones, so you can see if they're trying to pull a fast one.

You can use https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole if you know the postcode of where the pothole is to look up the correct council and it's supposed to take you to the right place to report, but sometimes it goes to the wrong place and you have to search the website to find it.

There are also third-party ones which supposedly aggregate reports, and also can submit them on your behalf if you use their forms to report them:

Two I've used are:

https://www.fixmystreet.com

and

https://www.fillthathole.org.uk

 

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

To be fair as soon as a pothole is reported to the highways department,or city council around here, they soon look into it.

[Roy124]

1 hour ago, Big_D said:

Spotted this Council employee inspecting a pothole. Apparently it's not bad enough to warrant a repair.

It does not meet the golf ball criteria.  If a golf ball is below the surface the hole is over 45mm deep and should be repaired. 

In this case you cannot see if the golf ball is lower than the surface so clearly it is not deep enough.