Local cyclist awarded damages after hitting pothole

[ColinJ]

(I couldn't work out the best forum for this one, but I think it is pretty relevant to most commuters these days.)

A local cyclist had an accident on a stretch of the A646 near here when his wheel struck a pothole at a sunken Yorkshire Water valve box. The CTC took up his case and YW have just settled out of court for £2k. Details here.

So, don't forget - report potholes, and also report accidents caused by potholes!

The accident in question was a few years ago but that section of the A646 isn't much better now than it was then - it is still pretty horrible. I took a forum ride along there a couple of weekends ago and people were commenting about the state of it.

 

[ZIZAG]

I am very glad the cyclist won the case and was awarded .
Justice was done .................................................... " Yes . I agree with you" . Regards to reporting and Highlighting potholes. It Is the only way to get them repaired .

 

[summerdays]

What gets me about motorists complaining about potholes on (TV usually) is that it takes a much larger one for cars to be affected normally and how many drivers report potholes as opposed to just expecting the council to magically know about and fix them.

I must admit whilst I do report them, I don't do every one ... but I did see last night that one that I reported in December (subsiding road breaking up rather than pothole) looks like it is marked up for repair. Sometimes I think I ought to go out on a Sunday and just ride round on a pothole mission.

 

[GrasB]

I've noticed in recent years that pot holes have been marked up fairly promptly, the problem is nothing is done to repair them! A slightly comical thing is that sometimes the marking gets worn away & then re-marked.

 

[funnymummy]

I hit a pothole in my car start of last year, was wating to turn right at a staggered Crossroads on a bend, a large van was waiting to turn right out of the road i wanted to go down, there was a break in the traffic so I started to pull off, just as a car that decided to turn left without indicating off the main road, as i'd alreday crossed the white lines I carried on, but put my foot down a bit harder then would have normaly, as I entered the road it was there, it wasn't just a hole, it was a crater!
It had been totaly obscured from my view by the van, I didn't have a chnace to brake, it was accros 3/4's of th lane so just had to go through it.
My car gave an almighty bang & I felt it lurch to the right, pulled over the whole car - was leaning over! I was only 1/2 mile from home & decided to call RAC, they took car to local garage, where it was pronounced my whole right front suspension was gone!!
They contacted the council & were able to bill them direct for the work, I contcted them to report the hole, the RAC man even reported it.
The council sent someone out a few days later & they sprayed lots of yellow lines around it, they even put a warning triangles up & flashing lights - on the pavemnt..as there is a pub opposite didn't say in place long, but got moved by the idiots staggering home everynight at closing time.
It took them over 2 months to fill the hole, I have no idea how many other cars suffered damage due to it, but I do know my friends son, was on his way home on his bike 3 nighst after my incident, it was late at night, dark & had been raining.
He didn't see the hole, went staright through it, Broke both arms, his collar bone, fractured his jaw & very nasty gravel rash all down his chest that will scar.
The council are still fighting his compensation!

 

[numbnuts]

I got sod all when I hit a pothole

 

[Paul_L]

that's worth knowing. A colleague of my other half was thrown off his bike when he hit a pot hole in Bradford last week. His forks snapped off and he sustained injuries requiring a 2 night stay in hospital.

 

[DrSquirrel]

What gets me about motorists complaining about potholes on (TV usually) is that it takes a much larger one for cars to be affected normally and how many drivers report potholes as opposed to just expecting the council to magically know about and fix them.

I must admit whilst I do report them, I don't do every one ... but I did see last night that one that I reported in December (subsiding road breaking up rather than pothole) looks like it is marked up for repair. Sometimes I think I ought to go out on a Sunday and just ride round on a pothole mission.

That and, times of old, where they didn't have "roads" per say, and the "roads" were potholed as standard... they didn't have modern suspension and tyres etc...

So what's going so wrong these days?


(yes, I realise its more likely the small wheel diameter )

 

[ColinJ]

that's worth knowing. A colleague of my other half was thrown off his bike when he hit a pot hole in Bradford last week. His forks snapped off and he sustained injuries requiring a 2 night stay in hospital.

I'm sorry to hear that - I hope he is going to be okay. From what I've read, his chances of getting compensation depend on whether that pothole had been reported to the council in time for them to have fixed it.

Get him to check the reports at FilllThatHole to see if it had been reported there.

I have mentioned before on the forum how I got a very nasty pothole filled by Rochdale council by telling them where it was, how dangerous it was, that a friend of mine had already hit it at speed, that I had entered it in a pothole database and had logged the fact that I had reported it to the council on that date.

I also said that I would monitor the papers and local news and if anybody was ever injured after hitting the hole I would come forward as a witness in any legal action to state that I had informed the council about the dangerous hole on that date. (So they wouldn't be able to play the "We check the roads regularly and found nothing - this must be a new pothole" card!)

That hole had been marked for well over a year but nothing had actually been done about it. After I contacted the council, their workman did a very good repair job within 48 hours which has stood up to over 10 years of heavy traffic!


So, if you see a bad pothole somewhere - report it at FilllThatHole!

 

[semislickstick]

I've noticed in recent years that pot holes have been marked up fairly promptly, the problem is nothing is done to repair them! A slightly comical thing is that sometimes the marking gets worn away & then re-marked.

Gras, if you are cycling anywhere near me around the St.Ives area I report them then usually use my white can of temp road paint to mark them so I don't go into them at night...probably not legal but I wanted to be able to get into a position to avoid them in time and not get hit by a following car (I've had a couple of driver friends notice and successfully avoid the bottom less pit ones due to the markings...I hadn't told them it was me that marked 'em.....if the council had repaired them I wouldn't need to 'vandalise the road/warn others' that way)

 

[GrasB]

semislickstick, I tend to ride to the south of Cambridge, I like my climbing & the Cambridgeshire/Essex border is where the 'hills' are. Plus I've seen council mini-vans (the Corsa/Fiesta sized vans) parked up with a man in high viz with a spray can waiting to find a gap in the traffic before now.