Cyclist injured after hitting pothole in Cheltenham road
POTHOLES in a road caused a Cheltenham cyclist to crash as he tried to avoid them.
The man, who has not been named, voiced his concerns to councillor, Barbara Driver, after the crash earlier this month.
She said he was unable to negotiate a pothole because of traffic and park cars in Lansdown, which led to him falling off his bike headfirst and injuring his chin.
Mrs Driver (C, Lansdown) said potholes on the county's roads continued to be a problem in the town.
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And she warned that the county council's highways department simply did not have the money to fix all of the holes.
She said: "I was contacted by a cyclist last week after he had come off his bike because of a pothole in Lansdown Crescent.
"There was a pothole in the road, but he could not swerve to miss it because a car was coming in the opposite direction and others were parked.
"Fortunately, he has recovered, but he fell headfirst of his bike and hurt his chin.
"He is understandably angry about the whole situation.
"The truth is Highways have got so many potholes to deal with all over Gloucestershire and they just don't have the money to deal with them all.
"There is a real problem with potholes and something needs to be done, but there are always money constraints.
"People are able to report it fairly easily and that is good because Highways need to find out where these potholes are.
"But, even if they know where they all are, there is not an unlimited supply of cash to get it sorted.
"The real problem has been the weather. If there is any kind of hole in the road with the cold, it just grows."
She believed one of the worst places for potholes in her ward was the busy Christchurch Road, particularly near the junction of Queen's Road.
Chris Riley, local highways manager, for Gloucestershire County Council's highways teams, said the department had been told about problems on that stretch of road.
He said: "We are aware of the condition of Lansdown Crescent and we will be closing the road to undertake patching works at the end of this month."
Resurfacing of the area is expected to take place between March 25 and April 5.
Mrs Driver praised the team's response to the report of the injured cyclist.
She said: "We are no worse in Gloucestershire than anywhere else in the UK.
"I've been in America recently and they were complaining about the same thing there.
"But that doesn't mean it is not a problem nor does it make it any better.
"If potholes are in a busy road and drivers cannot avoid them because of parked cars, then something has to be done."
6 Comments
by Alfredo_
Monday, March 18 2013, 10:19AM
“Why isn't there a bunch of small teams who fill their days just driving around filling in potholes as they find them?
Perhaps Cllr Driver could offer some detail on how repairs or checked for quality? It seems to me that the council pays out for repairs that are carried by lazy incompetents who do the bare minimum before submitting an invoice. Any company that's repairing road surfaces should be required to guarantee those repairs for three years.
@Cassandra2010 - I think you misunderstand the point about how Google Earth could be used for tracking repairs.”
by Cassandra2010
Monday, March 18 2013, 9:11AM
“Google Earth isn't real time and that would be a huge monitoring job! No, the Councils know exactly where works are done - as permission has to be sought first. It's just that the Councils need to be more professional about the quality control of the works and make utility companies and their own sub contractors more accountable. The way to enforce this is to make the Councils/Agency immediately responsible for damage or injury. If an employer was to leave like hazards on their premises and an employee was to be caused injury as a result, do you think that they would be allowed a defence that "they have an inspection schedule in place" and "it wasn't there the last time we looked"? I know we have to be realistic in our expectations, but some of today's dangers are unacceptable. Some Councils are easing the problem by changing the hazard metrics that need to be breached!!!!”
by Chelt_person
Monday, March 18 2013, 1:10AM
“As a cyclist who was also injured recently after falling off as a result of hitting a huge pothole in the rain, I too feel that something needs to be done to address this problem. What annoys me is that most of the potholes are caused by botched road repairs many of which can be attributed to holes being dug to feed services to new houses (garden grabs etc) from which builders make huge profits, leaving us tax payers to pick up the bill for repair. Why can't the Council track all roadworks (on Google Earth?) and make these money-grabbing cowboys pay for the repairs?
OUR ROADS ARE REACHING THE POINT OF BEING UNSUITABLE FOR ANYTHING BUT MILITARY VEHICLES AN TRACTORS!”
by Cassandra2010
Saturday, March 16 2013, 12:55PM
“Matt,
I agree we shouldn't have to report them, but I believe the motorist and pedestrian public should do their utmost to contribute to resolving this "national sore". If this means legal action against authorities - then so be it. Personal (successful) action leads me to believe that if you show that the relevant Council (or Highways Agency if applicable) has been negligent then you can succeed with a claim.
Proof of negligence will include firstly, showing that the metrics of the offending danger (whatever it is), is outside acceptable levels. This in itself is problematic, as there are no national guidelines issued by Central Govt (maybe for obvious reasons). Secondly, that the existing state could not have developed since the last inspection.
Here's a wonderful idea - at county level, a publicly accessible database of reported danger spots, together with metrics, photographs with photo scales and details of reports by the public!”
by Matt1006
Saturday, March 16 2013, 11:14AM
“Agree with Cassandra2010 that it shouldn't be down to Joe Public to have to report potholes before they are "fixed". The County Council has a duty of care to all road users, so should be capable of spotting potholes for themselves, and not be reliant on us to report them. OK they can't spend all day driving up & down all the roads, but even on main roads it seems it takes a report from a member of the public before a pothole is marked, and eventually repaired.
Then it would be useful if the repairs carried out were just that - repairs. Not just chucking a bucket of warm tarmac into a hole with a yellow circle drawn around it, a quick tamp with a bit of board on the end of a broomstick, and on to the next one. And why does it even need a circle drawn around it - why can't a maintenance crew spot a pothole, and immediately fix it, there & then? Why does it take one visit to spot the hole, and then a repeat visit days (weeks?) later to actually fill it in? How is that cost-effective?
It was only a matter of time before an incident like this took place - luckily it seems the injured cyclist has got away lightly. Could have been a lot worse. Wonder how old the pothole he hit was, and had it been reported / identified? And has it now been repaired???
And Cllr. Driver's comments are not especially helpful. "We are no worse in Gloucestershire than anywhere else in the UK" - can she back that comment up? I have no idea if Gloucestershire's roads are any better or worse than those in (say) Cornwall, Northumberland or Aberdeenshire - does Cllr. Driver know herself? And apparently the Americans have the same issues - how is that in any way relevant to the condition of the roads in Gloucestershire???”
by Cassandra2010
Saturday, March 16 2013, 10:37AM
“Firstly, the problem has not just been the weather. It is years of neglect that is the fundamental problem. When once wear of a surface has started it will simply progress at an ever increasing rate. There seems to have been an attitude that the problems will "go away". They won't - and it will only get even worse.
Secondly, even though I believe that potholes must be reported - it shouldn't be necessary. The Council constantly claims the defence that they are complying with ""safety inspection regimes". Well if they are adequately inspecting, they already know of the damage - don't they?”