Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Motorists round the bend over potholes
THE pothole problem is back with a vengeance.
Something we generally associate with the winter months is again wreaking havoc with motorists. This time, however, there appears to be a backlog of repairs from earlier on in the year and, from what I have seen, it would appear any repairs are generally on the roadway itself while those at the edge of the road tend to be ignored and left to deteriorate to horrendous and dangerous states of disrepair.
The SNP-Green coalition are spending too much money on their personal agendas, and with cut-backs to councils from Holyrood, and inflation, how can one expect respective councils to properly plan or even carry out programmes for addressing this problem.
Repairs caused by hitting potholes generally run into hundreds of pounds to an individual’s vehicle, not to mention the inconvenience caused by having that vehicle off the road.
If you are unfortunate enough to become a victim remember to collate the information at the time of the incident or as soon as possible thereafter.
This can include photographs of the offending pothole, it’s size and, importantly, it’s depth. Note also weather conditions, visibility and were there any warning signs out at the time? A sketch, not necessarily to scale, but with road widths noted can complement a photograph.
If possible, photograph any damage, which will probably be underneath your vehicle. While the front wheel impacts initially, the rear wheel can also sustain damage.
Should personal injury be sustained, report it to the police who should arrange to have a warning sign in place.
If there are any witnesses obtain their particulars as they may be required to corroborate one’s account of what happened.
It may be that the vehicle involved becomes undriveable and will require to be taken to a garage for repair. Obtain relevant details here.
Thereafter, contact the council in whose area the incident took place, and request an accident damage report form be forwarded to you. The form has a number of questions which are relatively simple to follow.
An estimate of repair costs will also be required.
If one elects to advise their own vehicle insurance company then do so. If there is injury sustained, then I suspect this will be compulsory.
Once the claim form is received, copy out another (or more) in the event of you wanting to compile your report somewhat differently from the first attempt.
The pothole problem is not reserved for roads in our area – in fact it is estimated there are around nine million more scattered on the roads of Britain.
It may seem a bit unfair to state that in the rural areas, agricultural tractors, trailers and farm machinery go some way to exacerbating the situation but farmers may be well justified in saying “our show must go on”.