I think they have solved the ambulance queuing issue at QE II hospital by making it impossible for ambulances to actually get there. The approach road looks like day 2 of the Somme.
Big crater in the ground in two places driving past on Easter Monday
Sadly, I think repairing roads is way down the list of things to spend money on for most councils.
Repairing them properly.
They repair the potholes cheaply, filling them in with cheap tarmac, which erodes away again the next time there’s heavy train and traffic, instead of repairing that section of road to a high standard.
Why spend £5,000 and do it once properly when they can spend £2,000 five times over five years, so the boss can say that they’ve underspent on their budget for the financial year…
Just one of the many things - see also polluted rivers and sea, garbage on roadsides etc - that increasingly make me feel ashamed of a country I love. I recently had visitors from New Zealand and France who were quietly appalled by what they saw compared to previous visits. Coming back from Gatwick with one couple I hit a pothole that punctured the tyre and bent the wheel. A £700 replacement job. The feeling of helplessness in the face of this slide towards third world conditions, makes me admire the bloody-mindedness of, say, French dissidents who take to the streets. I wish we could hold somebody or some body responsible and get things changed.
Mate of a mates ended up in a coma after coming off his bike because of a pothole on the steep hill in Chistlehurst a year or two back. Pathetic the way councils just leave them.
Mate of a mates ended up in a coma after coming off his bike because of a pothole on the steep hill in Chistlehurst a year or two back. Pathetic the way councils just leave them.
It gets pretty ridiculous that you have to spend so much time looking out for potholes. Some of the back roads near East Grinstead are like bomb sites -
The hardest problems to solve are the ones caused by multiple issues. In terms of pot holes, we can look at the general quality of workmanship when laying roads, the utility companies being able to dig up even brand new roads and do a shoddy repair afterwards and the weather of course but we have always had weather! Is it just that we are spending less on this? Rather than look to Europe, yet having driven to Italy and back last summer I didn't observe such a big problem, we could look to Scandanavia which has weather that should cause more potholes, yet they have far less. What are they doing differently?
I think our climate is worse for potholes than that of countries who have several months of hard winter. It's the regular freezing and melting that kills the road surface. Our snow is of the wet, icy variety too, rather than the powdery stuff you find in many countries with hard winters.
The hardest problems to solve are the ones caused by multiple issues. In terms of pot holes, we can look at the general quality of workmanship when laying roads, the utility companies being able to dig up even brand new roads and do a shoddy repair afterwards and the weather of course but we have always had weather! Is it just that we are spending less on this? Rather than look to Europe, yet having driven to Italy and back last summer I didn't observe such a big problem, we could look to Scandanavia which has weather that should cause more potholes, yet they have far less. What are they doing differently?
I think our climate is worse for potholes than that of countries who have several months of hard winter. It's the regular freezing and melting that kills the road surface. Our snow is of the wet, icy variety too, rather than the powdery stuff you find in many countries with hard winters.
Not excusing the authorities of course
There is something else to factor in of course, have we always been moaning about pot holes? If not, has the weather changed significantly from a time when we didn't?
You can usually report on your council’s website (for me, roads fall under the county council) and they will come out and fill it in. Response time here is prompt, though the repairs don’t look very long lasting.
Comments
They repair the potholes cheaply, filling them in with cheap tarmac, which erodes away again the next time there’s heavy train and traffic, instead of repairing that section of road to a high standard.
Why spend £5,000 and do it once properly when they can spend £2,000 five times over five years, so the boss can say that they’ve underspent on their budget for the financial year…
Not to mentioned...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/sussex-news/horsham-cyclist-thrown-bike-injured-8077424.amp
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/coroner-tells-inquest-that-pothole-caused-cyclists-death
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-cyclist-killed-after-hitting-25285649.amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/road.cc/content/news/call-repair-inadequate-roads-after-cyclists-death-298461?amp
Not excusing the authorities of course
https://www.fixmystreet.com/
Around my way we've got potholes big enough to fit the entire Chelsea squad in.