That moment when you realise the Council aren't listening...

[Maylian]

I ride this route pretty frequently as well (1-2 times / week) and I know what you mean, you have to cut over to the ped side of the path to avoid the potholes, hoping nothing is coming the other way etc.

The tree roots are also dodgy if you're not aware of them on the other side of the tunnel, although I always think they're a bit of fun.......but then I know they are there. I wasn't aware of the accident and will report the path for being dangerous.

 

[Drago]

I'm presuming your underpass is the same one this poor old boy came a cropper in? If so then its important you do contact the dibble. A year ago you reported a defect/dangerous leaf litter, and a year on someone has received serious - possibly fatal - injuries that may well be as a direct consequence of the Councils lack of action over the matter. The information you have might be relevant to their inquiry, and might concievably be of use if some kind of neglect-of-duty criminal or civil prosecution occurred, or even at an inquest.

On the other hand it might be of no use whatsoever, but you don't speak up you will never know. I'd say it's your moral duty as a conscientious citizen to make contact with them.

 

[steveindenmark]

What a lot of messing about you lot have to go through.

I live out in the sticks of Denmark. Earlier this year I sent an e mail to my local Council about a pothole that was developing on a little used road near my house. A couple of days later I was riding home and saw that they had sprayed a circle of yellow paint round the pothole.

But not only that. They had circled every blemish on the road for 11/2 miles.

The following day, day 3. The workman came and spent the day repairing every blemish.

Nothing unusual with this, its the norm. :0)

 

[summerdays]

What a lot of messing about you lot have to go through.

I live out in the sticks of Denmark. Earlier this year I sent an e mail to my local Council about a pothole that was developing on a little used road near my house. A couple of days later I was riding home and saw that they had sprayed a circle of yellow paint round the pothole.

But not only that. They had circled every blemish on the road for 11/2 miles.

The following day, day 3. The workman came and spent the day repairing every blemish.

Nothing unusual with this, its the norm. :0)

I generally get fast responses to potholes if it's a basic one in the road. If it isn't simple such as a private road, concrete road surface, road about to be dug up for major works etc then it takes longer. I must admit I fail every year with getting them to clear leaves at one point which is nuts as they clear leaves on the section before automatically every year, so I assume it is between two different divisions within the council.

I do find a lot of car drivers who moan about potholes, if you question them, you will find they haven't actually reported it, they just expect the council to know and fill it in. They don't appreciate that is one of the positives of sharing the roads with cyclists is they are more likely to complain before they reach crater size.

 

[buggi]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/13713277.Pensioner_fights_for_life_after_bike_crash_in_subway/

Frustrated.

I reported this via the council website in 2014. I'd ridden the underpass at the time and as I descended into it at what I would call a cautious speed, no where near a fast one, I'd hit a hole in the ground and then found myself sliding, upright towards the wall. Thankfully my rear tyre regained traction and I was able to control the bike.

I stopped and walked back. The lights were out down there and it was dark even though it was daylight outside. So I shone the bike light down to see the whole ground smeared with mud and rotten leaves (this was July I think, so you cant blame autumn). There was a definite pothole down there right at the point the path bends to the right.

Got home, got on the council website and reported it. Then I didnt ride it until about a month back only to realise that its exactly the same (if not the pothole is actually worse). TBH I dont remember reporting it a second time. Trouble is the website doesnt/didnt send you confirmation.. and having lots of other stuff on my mind too..

The news story depresses me because it was easily avoided by being fixed. I have in the past urged local riders to report these things but you constantly get told by other riders of similar experiences.

Whats the solution? Personally I dont know. I've asked on twitter for local riders to go to the media and highlight this. We seem to be in a lose-lose situation for now. I hope the old fella recovers!

Definitely a bit of publicity is what you need or let the family know the council knew about the problem. I don't know if you remember , sometime back I lived in a village and the black and white chevron sign (that was not visible anyway bcoz it was to far round the bend) had been taken out by someone crashing. It was a really dangerous corner, people were always crashing ( due to the naff location of the chevrons) so I crawled in the ditch, pulled the damn heavy thing out and I propped it up against a rock for a month, on the phone almost everyday to the council to come and fix them. During this month the wind kept blowing it down so I would prop it back up against the rock I used. At one point the council even told me I had put it in the wrong place when I pointed out that it should go where I propped it up bcoz it would be more visible. Someone on here asked to see the corner I was talking about and when we looked on google street view it revealed that the sign was only half of what used to be there (which explained it's shite location in the first place) and that there were some originally where I had propped it up, which obviously the council had also never got around to replacing. There were always crashes on this corner, someone in the ditch at least once a month so I knew it would only be a matter of time. Sure enough I came riding home one day to find two lads waiting for a recovery vehicle. The sign had blown over and they hadn't seen it, took the 90 degree bend too fast and voila. They told me they were apparently the 2nd one that night (another person from the village told them), so I told them to sue the council and all about the conversations I'd had with them over the last month. Needles to say not only was the chevron sign replaced within 3 days but also more chevrons went back up in the original location that was on street view. it was then another 6 months before I left and strangely... No more incidents! It's surprising what the threat of legal action can do.

 

[Glenn]

I have reported 3 problems in the past, 2 trees slowly falling over into cycle paths and a pothole on the A329. With the trees, both the councils had them removed within a week, the pothole took a while longer to resolve but was repaired after about 4 - 6 weeks.

 

[Drago]

Definitely a bit of publicity is what you need or let the family know the council knew about the problem. I don't know if you remember , sometime back I lived in a village and the black and white chevron sign (that was not visible anyway bcoz it was to far round the bend) had been taken out by someone crashing. It was a really dangerous corner, people were always crashing ( due to the naff location of the chevrons) so I crawled in the ditch, pulled the damn heavy thing out and I propped it up against a rock for a month, on the phone almost everyday to the council to come and fix them. During this month the wind kept blowing it down so I would prop it back up against the rock I used. At one point the council even told me I had put it in the wrong place when I pointed out that it should go where I propped it up bcoz it would be more visible. Someone on here asked to see the corner I was talking about and when we looked on google street view it revealed that the sign was only half of what used to be there (which explained it's shite location in the first place) and that there were some originally where I had propped it up, which obviously the council had also never got around to replacing. There were always crashes on this corner, someone in the ditch at least once a month so I knew it would only be a matter of time. Sure enough I came riding home one day to find two lads waiting for a recovery vehicle. The sign had blown over and they hadn't seen it, took the 90 degree bend too fast and voila. They told me they were apparently the 2nd one that night (another person from the village told them), so I told them to sue the council and all about the conversations I'd had with them over the last month. Needles to say not only was the chevron sign replaced within 3 days but also more chevrons went back up in the original location that was on street view. it was then another 6 months before I left and strangely... No more incidents! It's surprising what the threat of legal action can do.

Those young spunks didn't crash because of the lack of signage. They crashed because they they were driving so fast they couldn't stop in the distance ahead they could see to be clear and safe.

 

[buggi]

Those young spunks didn't crash because of the lack of signage. They crashed because they they were driving so fast they couldn't stop in the distance ahead they could see to be clear and safe.

Yea they did along with everyone else but in their defence it was a particularly dangerous bend, full 90 degrees with no forewarning. I don't defend drivers very often but the corner was deceptive and it took me a month when I moved in to get used to it. It was very easy to overcook it and end up in the ditch. I warned my dad the first time he followed me in and he overcooked it as well even though he had been told. Most drivers would knock down to third gear to take the bend but you actually had to go down to 2nd to get round. It was treacherous and the road had a speed limit of 60 which didn't help. The villagers had been campaigning for ages to get the limit down to 30 so that people weren't fooled into a false sense of security. Nobody expects a 90 degree bend on a 60mph road, especially when the warning chevrons are round the other side of the bend. Things got a lot better after the council replaced all of them, and people could see them on approach. In fact I even fell off my bike on this corner in bad weather and I never really got my confidence back on that stretch of road. I hated it.

 

[Drago]

Why were they driving at a speed that failed to allow them to stop safely in the distance they could see ahead? did someone force them to do so?

That's a rhetorical question - the answer is clearly, "no".

No one expects broken down cars, slow moving tractors, MAMILS, deer, drunks, the foolish, pedestrians where there is no footpath, broken down cars, stupidly parked cars, but they all happen. If you can't see far enough ahead to stop at the speed you are going, then you're going to fast.

Just because a road has a 60mph speed limit does not mean that it's safe, practicable or sensible to barrel along at that speed. It's not an entitlement to go at that speed - it's the maximum permissible speed when all conditions (including forward visibility) permit, which in this scenario they did not.

These are the same chumps that fling themselves into fogbanks on motorways at warp speed, right up someones jacksy.

Yes indeed, signage, lighting, a low speed limit may help the unwary, but none of these aids detract from the basic premise that it's the drivers responsibility to drive at a safe and appropriate speed.

 

[classic33]

Get a picture of the hole with nothing else for scale but a 1/10th R/C wheel.
Wheel showing obvious signs of damage.

They were out the following morning trying to locate it to fix it.