The Plight Of Potholes

POTHOLE – A word that strikes fear into drivers everywhere.

Probably not a fan of bad roads…

The pothole is one of the most feared things on our roads and it causes some major bum twitching every time you have to scrape, bounce and crash across one. It is bad enough on some roads driving in normal super deluxe soft suspension but anyone that runs super low or relatively hard suspension will know just how bad potholes and broken roads can be.

Often you hear people say things like “wow the roads where that guy live must be much nicer than here to run a car like that”. However it would seem that according to a post I came across on Popular Mechanics dodgy roads aren’t just a British problem, Americans have to put up with mini road-craters as well. It is quite an interesting post and says that in New York City workers can fill up to 5000 holes a day. I don’t think my local council work anywhere near that fast…

So why do we get potholes that need filling in the first place? Unfortunately potholes seem to be fairly unavoidable, you may have noticed that the roads get worse a lot over the winter, what happens is any tiny little cracks in the road surface get filled with water and then when the temperatures plummet the water freezes and expands inside the little crack turning it into a slightly larger crack with the tarmac being pushed up and out. This then causes a chain reaction where the weak spots create larger gaps allowing more water in which in turn makes the holes and gaps even bigger. These weak spots also get trampled on continuously by traffic which moves around the weak surface. So next time you weave all over the road missing potholes, you are not only saving your suspension and broken back but you’re also saving the road a little bit!

It isn’t just surface water getting into cracks that are a problem either, a lot of roads don’t have great drainage and water can get beneath them causing the tarmac to have a slight spring to it, like when you step on wet grass, however because tarmac isn’t that flexible it starts to crack and then the surface water gets into those cracks… Can you see where I’m going with this?

A lot of the time when complaining about potholes to non-car people, I get the simple answers of don’t lower it so much and get softer suspension. Well obviously that just isn’t an option, I’ll leave lifting cars until I get a 4×4, however there are multiple reports from companies like the AA and RAC that show that potholes are a problem that effect wallowy standard cars as much as modified cars. This RAC post says that due to lack of funding combined with an increasing number of potholes the local authorities are carrying out cheap short term repairs instead of paying for more costly long term solutions. A Survey of RAC patrol teams found a 25% increase in call-outs caused by poor road conditions in the past 12 months with wheel and tyre damage being the biggest problem.

This is, believe it or not, a real accident that happened due to a huge hidden pothole!

Another report says bad roads cost British drivers around £1m a day in repair bills, with the average bill for each car coming to around £240. Because of this cost a lot more people are claiming on their insurance. A report from the AA says the average price for a claim is £1,300 (but the average is often a very misleading piece of information…) The most expensive claim last year was over £14,000 after a driver lost control and crashed after hitting a pothole. More insurance claims lead to higher insurance premiums for everyone which isn’t good so it might be worth seeking help from a road traffic accident specialist solicitors and try and claim damages from the council. It might even show that potholes are a big problem and I’m sure the council will realise they need to fix up the road if they start having to pay out a lot for damages.

You can also do your part in trying to fix up the roads because the council can’t repair roads they don’t know about. Most local councils will have an online form where you can report a faulty road surface, for example you can report roads in Devon here and roads in Somerset here via their local council websites.

Remember: You’re not drunk, you’re just avoiding potholes!