Driver is on potholes mission to help benefit every road user
THEY are the scourge of motorists, costing drivers across the UK a total of about £4.09 billion each year in repairs and risking the safety of cyclists.
Now one man from Glasgow has put potholes firmly back on the agenda as he battles to get them fixed.
Jamie Canavan, the founder of the popular Facebook group Potholes In And Around Glasgow, has told the full story behind his incredibly popular project.
“I just want the roads to be safe for road users and pedestrians, people can’t afford the damages either,” said the 29-year-old.
“When I’m driving, I’m constantly left-right-left-right to avoid potholes.”
The group has clearly touched a nerve, racking up nearly 3,000 members since launching just a matter of weeks ago.
Jamie, from Shettleston, was inspired to start the group last year when he hit a pothole in Braeburn Road, in Renfrewshire.
He could not claim compensation, he said, because the council had been made aware of the issue.
He said: “They said they had put appropriate measures in place, but the ‘appropriate measures’ were just a wee bit of paint on a dark road and that was it.
“It wasn’t coned off or anything, it was nothing. I was meant to be able to see that paint in the dark.
“Because of that, I lost out on getting any of the money back that I had to spend. I spent £600 on a new alloy, a new tyre and getting my wheels realigned.”
He describes the situation as being a Catch-22, because drivers cannot be reimbursed if the council is aware of the problem and has taken appropriate measures.
The lorry driver added: “I don’t think that a wee bit of paint and one cone is enough to warn people.
It’s negligence.”
Some of the group’s members have raised concerns that patch-repairs will only serve as a sticking-plaster solution, but Jamie argued it was better than the potholes not being fixed at all.
And the worst pothole he’s seen in the city?
“There was one in Shawlands, that was really bad and that got reported to the council,” said Jamie. “But it’s everywhere and it’s getting worse and worse. I think Covid has had a big part in it, because of reduced manpower.”
The cost of fixing Scotland ’s pothole-blighted roads is estimated to have reached £3bn.
Urgent action has been urged as it emerged more than one-third of local streets and 13 per cent of major roads need repairs.
Price comparison website Confused.com said more than 111,000 potholes on Scots roads were reported in 2018.
It discovered the total depth of the craters was 4432 metres – more than 25 times the depth of the English Channel or the height of 2,955 cars stacked up.
It added that Scots councils paid out £272,000 in compensation to drivers for pothole damage to their vehicles, on top of the £18m paid out to repair roads across the country.
According to the Department for Transport, 397 people have been killed or seriously injured while cycling due to a pothole or other road defect since 2007.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “The toll of pothole damage on cars is already breathtaking.
“However, as more people take up cycling due to avoiding public transport in the pandemic and if e-scooters are legalised, then sorting our poor road surfaces becomes more important than ever. “
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “Any potholes reported to us will be properly assessed by one of our roads inspectors and prioritised appropriately for repair. Our inspectors also undertake proactive checks of the city’s road network on a routine and ongoing basis.
“In the early part of any year it is normal to see an increase in potholes and other faults as the impact of winter weather on the roads surface takes effect. Weather conditions in winter this year were particularly harsh.
“The Covid pandemic has also affected how we can deploy our resources.”
A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “We encourage residents to report road faults to us as soon as they notice them. When a pothole is reported to us, we send an inspector out to assess it and then arrange for the pothole to be repaired as soon as possible.”
I just want the roads to be safe for road users and pedestrians