I wonder how Autonomous Cars deal with Potholes!

[Deleted member 35268]

Seeing these two articles side by side got me wondering, how do Autonmous cars deal with the dreaded pothole. Us humans can occasionally avoid them (though sometimes they are unavoidable) so what mechanisms are in place for the driverless car / bus / taxi.

 

[Drago]

In a related tipic , t'other day there was a guy in the paper who's Ferrari was damaged by a pothole. The Council refused to stump up the £10,000 repair bill, so he took them to Court and the Council lost. So, not only do they have the £10,000 repair bill, they have something like £30,000 in legal fees to pay.

That's 40 gees of public money pithed up the wall, that would have been better spent on repairing potholes in the first place. Most of these councils couldn't find their own arrisses if you gave them a mirror onna stick.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

In a related tipic , t'other day there was a guy in the paper who's Ferrari was damaged by a pothole. The Council refused to stump up the £10,000 repair bill, so he took them to Court and the Council lost. So, not only do they have the £10,000 repair bill, they have something like £30,000 in legal fees to pay.

That's 40 gees of public money pithed up the wall, that would have been better spent on repairing potholes in the first place. Most of these councils couldn't find their own arrisses if you gave them a mirror onna stick.

I took my council to court for the £100 tyre I had to get from a pothole. I did infact incurr further cost when I found out the wheel was damaged (another £45).
I got a letter yesterday to say the councils solicitors found no evidence of the council failing to inspect and repair the hole I drove over, so I get nothing.

 

[Drago]

Surely that's a negative answer? Should they not be conforming that they did inspect the road, not saying there's no evidence they didn't? One would hope they'd be able to produce the member of personnel that did the check in court, and he could present to the court his records to prove it?

One of the benefits of being retired and bored is I report them all using the fix my pothole app, so anyone coming a cropper can check to see if it has been reported.

 

[jefmcg]

I got a letter yesterday to say the councils solicitors found no evidence of the council failing to inspect and repair the hole I drove over, so I get nothing.

Have you checked https://www.fixmystreet.com/ and https://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

If they were reported on there before your incident, then they can't claim they didn't know about them.

 

[fossyant]

Manchester council have just resurfaced a stretch of the A57 in Gorton. Except that part was fairly new without any holes. They seem to have ignored the road either side with wheel swallowing holes and trenches.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Manchester council have just resurfaced a stretch of the A57 in Gorton. Except that part was fairly new without any holes. They seem to have ignored the road either side with wheel swallowing holes and trenches.

There's a stretch of road near Stevenston, close to a North Ayrshire Council Roads Department depot that was resurfaced 8 times in 10 years between 1996 and 2006. Always in March. The speculation was the council were using up their materials budget before the end of the financial year.

 

[Jody]

I took my council to court for the £100 tyre I had to get from a pothole. I did infact incurr further cost when I found out the wheel was damaged (another £45).
I got a letter yesterday to say the councils solicitors found no evidence of the council failing to inspect and repair the hole I drove over, so I get nothing.

I had a wheel split in two round the circumference due to hitting a massive pothole. The home adjacent to the whole said it was reported the week previous to the council and I should contact them. Their solicitor sent me a letter and basically tried to swerve on any responsbility but the pothole was filled 24 hours after my letter was recieved. I was going to persue it but the allow wheel manufacturer took the set back and offered to swap for a brand new set of four at their cost.

Yes they have to try and mitigate costs but I find it disgusting they can avoid bills for badly maintained roads. I wouldn't feel safe riding a road bike at speed and running the risk of hitting one on skinny tyres.

 

[Jody]

[QUOTE 4750309, member: 9609"]I would have thought if a pot hole was so enormous that it could do 10K of damage, then it was big enough to be seen, my response would have been 6 points on licence for 'without due care & attention'. If the pot hole was not cavernous then clearly the car was not suitable for the highway.

I'm just not sure if I have much sympathy for people who hit pot holes - drive more slowly and concentrate more.[/QUOTE]

Did you type that with a straight face?

 

[jefmcg]

Yes they have to try and mitigate costs but I find it disgusting they can avoid bills for badly maintained roads. I wouldn't feel safe riding a road bike at speed and running the risk of hitting one on skinny tyres.

Potholes killed at least one cyclist last year in south west London, and I believe may have killed a second one.

I am less sympathetic to low riding expensive cars being driven too fast for the road conditions.

 

[ColinJ]

[QUOTE 4750309, member: 9609"]I'm just not sure if I have much sympathy for people who hit pot holes - drive more slowly and concentrate more.[/QUOTE]
There was once a big pothole on a bend on the descent of the A58 from Blackstone Edge to Littleborough. I nearly hit it on my bike and a friend DID hit it. The slope and camber of the road was such that the pothole only became visible at the very last moment. It was bloody lethal and hitting it was almost unavoidable because it was exactly on the line taken by bicycle wheels and nearside wheels of vehicles. I complained to the local council and they filled it within a couple of days. They actually did a top quality repair too, for a change - the hole never reappeared in that spot.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Have you checked https://www.fixmystreet.com/ and https://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

If they were reported on there before your incident, then they can't claim they didn't know about them.

The data on those websites is not the same as the actual notifications by the public and inspections data that the relevant councils use.

My first step was to 1) enquire about the process, 2) Make a complaint 3) Prove the council negligent by using Freedom of Information act to request all notifications by the public on the stretch of road and all works and inspections that had taken place. It took a few days for it to come through. In hindsight I should have got the data in step 3 first before making the complaint. When I reviewed the data, which was very detailed and interesting, I realised they had inspected the road within the timeframe they needed to. I will know better next time!

 

[ColinJ]

The data on those websites is not the same as the actual notifications by the public and inspections data that the relevant councils use.

My first step was to 1) enquire about the process, 2) Make a complaint 3) Prove the council negligent by using Freedom of Information act to request all notifications by the public on the stretch of road and all works and inspections that had taken place. It took a few days for it to come through. In hindsight I should have got the data in step 3 first before making the complaint. When I reviewed the data, which was very detailed and interesting, I realised they had inspected the road within the timeframe they needed to. I will know better next time!

THIS is how I got a quick and effective response from Rochdale Highways Department!

 

[Drago]

You would think a typical pothole repair costs less than a solicitors letter. In fact, I'm certain they do.

 

[jefmcg]

The data on those websites is not the same as the actual notifications by the public and inspections data that the relevant councils use.

Both sites send their data to the councils, so if it is on there, then the council has informed. If it's not there, you can still do the FOI check.