As regular readers will know, Bankstone News has a bizarre – if not downright unhealthy – obsession with potholes. Imagine, then, our delight when the Telegraph took a sumptuously in-depth look into the multitude of cavernous pits and crevasses that lurk in wait for unsuspected motorists the length and breadth of our glorious land.
Along with the seemingly infinite profusion of other things rapidly turning pear-shaped as the nation tightens its belt through recessionary times, our roads are literally cracking up, precipitating a positive orgy of vehicular carnage, as extreme weather plays havoc with their superfices.
Insurance brokers Alcoholics Anonymous reported this week that pothole-related damage to cars has more than doubled over the past year. In just the last four weeks, AA claims, those pesky potholes have ‘seriously damaged’ an estimated 1,000 cars. That’s more than all Britain’s motoring journalists put together.
Doug Simons of AA told the Telegraph, somewhat cryptically and indeed agramatically, that “the figures shows that all had motorists who had made a claim had seen a tyre damaged, while a fifth had suffered wheel damage too.” By all of what or whom motorists who had made a claim were had the article does not make clear, but it certainly sounds bad. And it gets worse!
“That’s bad enough,” Simons says, “but those making insurance claims are saying that there has been serious damage to suspension, steering and bodywork as well.” Although they’d probably say pretty much anything to con some more cash out of their poor insurers! But it doesn’t end there: some of those making insurance claims have apparently swerved to avoid pitting hotholes only to hit something else!
Basically, it’s a complete nightmare. But at least all the savings local authorities are making to road repairs will go some way towards funding their multi-million pound bills for ‘compensation claims and extra staff costs required to process’ the claims of people who make claims for compensation from them.
With funding for the War on Potholes slashed by almost half of nearly a billion pounds since the Coalition came to power, pootholes.co.uk claim that a new and more virulent strain of potholes has emerged. Terrifyingly these are more aggressive and (at up to four inches) considerably deeper than even the most profound of previously known potholes.
What can motorists do? “Keep an eye on your tyres”, Doug Simons suggests, and watch out for ‘telltale bulges’ that could ultimately result in a ‘catastrophic blowout’. What he should probably have added is that you should not attempt to do this whilst traveling at high speeds, as this can distract you from hazards on the road ahead, such as potholes, for example.
No responses yet