what the hell is going on with our roads.

As its towards the end of the financial tax year, I reckon some of the roadworks this time of year are to use up the year's budget - use it or lose it. Guessing a few of the roadworks are to dig a random hole, do f all inside the hole then fill it up.

Have complained to county council's highway dept to ask to extend the double yellows down one side of my road by 1.5-2m. As get residents parking right on the edge of the single yellows (no parking M-F 9-5) and makes it near impossible to go past them. Council refuses to do this yet paints a 1m cycle lane 200m away. WTF?
 
Blueball said:
I am a cyclist and I TOTALLY disagree with that. I've been clipped by 3 cyclists in the last year and my next door neighbour has been struck twice! It is an offence to ride a cycle on the pavement.
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Obviously it depends on the competency of the cyclist (maybe there should be a test :p ). I tell the kids to stay on the path even on our 20 mph estate as most people seem to be Bell ends and hammer it round blind corners (quite funny to watch when they have to slam on as something comes the other way). I'm riding a mountain bike not a road one, so it's never going to be that fast so maybe my view is slightly biased.
On a topic related subject, I reported a pothole so well see if it gets filled.
 
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Yup I came to start a pot hole thread but I can see this already exists! South Birmingham and commute to Meriden on country lanes is bad enough. Meanwhile lets spend £100+ billion on a slightly faster train :)

The roads don't belong to car owners they are shared with everyone, like a person walking along the road, on country lanes that's the only option sometimes - that's legal. Horses, cyclists, tractors. Car owners think the roads belong to them but they're wrong.

www.ramblers.org.uk

The Highway Code for walkers

Even if your planned walking route is mainly off-road, you should be aware of how the Highway Code applies to you as a pedestrian.
www.ramblers.org.uk www.ramblers.org.uk

'Road tax' is actually emissions tax in the UK. With the increasing number of electric cars on the roads the government will introduce a new 'road tax' that electric car owners will need to pay - and they should, that's only fair.

I think everything got much worse since 2008 and the banks were bailed out globally, governments have less money, all the funding was cut to all the councils, all the councils have less money.

Tory voters keep voting Tory I guess "this is fine"/something to do with boats.
 
keyser van someone said:
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'Road tax' is actually emissions tax in the UK. With the increasing number of electric cars on the roads the government will introduce a new 'road tax' that electric car owners will need to pay - and they should, that's only fair.
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not saying I disagree with you but EV drivers are getting hit harder than some ICE cars tho. our 2011 diesel is still only £30 per year and my folks petrol car is zero.
historically changes to tax prices of cars have only gone forwards at the point the rules comes in but the new EV tax is going back to 2017 owners.
not certain but I guess tha means my 2011 diesel and My parents petrol cars will cost less than a 2018 EV which is daft.
I wouldn't mind so much if the tax went on the roads but as already said ... it doesn't
 
There's a slightly(!) larger worrying part to all this. We're doing our job; being upstanding citizens, going to work, paying taxes, pensions, we're doing everything right. Now it's governments turn. Otherwise our social contract dating back some 200 years is over I guess.

It's more that just potholes isn't it?
 
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Blueball said:
I am a cyclist and I TOTALLY disagree with that. I've been clipped by 3 cyclists in the last year and my next door neighbour has been struck twice! It is an offence to ride a cycle on the pavement.
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You're still alive though. If you were on your bike and clipped by 3 cars then it's likely you'd be significantly more seriously injured.

While I'm aware its an offence to ride on the pavement, I'd rather risk a run in with a police officer than with a **** in a car who thinks picking up their big mac 30 seconds sooner is more important than my safety
 
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I've reported a few potholes to my council (east yorks) and they've been repaired with a week usually. I asked a guy I work with if he'd done it ams he said he just drives around them :rolleyes: . My thinking is that if I report them it's less for me to accidentally hot, and others will do the same. It's not comfortable to go over them with low profile tyres (standard on the car).
 
theone8181 said:
I've reported a few potholes to my council (east yorks) and they've been repaired with a week usually. I asked a guy I work with if he'd done it ams he said he just drives around them :rolleyes: . My thinking is that if I report them it's less for me to accidentally hot, and others will do the same. It's not comfortable to go over them with low profile tyres (standard on the car).
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I recently started using fixmystreet to do the same and was surprised with how quick they were then repaired. My biggest frustration is that the first attempt seems to be done by a cheaper repairer who does the bare minimum and I end up having to report them a second time a few weeks later when it's back to the state it was/worse.
 
Aaargh potholes...... two tyres stuffed

Went to report on council site, it was already reported almost a year ago when someone else had a similar blowout....:rolleyes:

20230413-123001.jpg
 
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@sandys hope your wheel isn't buckled - My Volvo wheels appear to be made of cheese. I replaced all 4 last year as they were all buckled (2 cracked!) and 2 of the new ones are already buckled again.

I give up. ****** Southampton roads.
 
Having damaged 3 tyres in 4 months from things we couldn't avoid, I am cutting my losses and dropping to 20s. I can't sustain that rate at £300 a pop, I love the 22s but they offer scant protection. Though I am wondering if I should go 19s... but this all makes me sad, the car looks so awesome on 22s.
 
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sandys said:
Having damaged 3 tyres in 4 months from things we couldn't avoid, I am cutting my losses and dropping to 20s. I can't sustain that rate at £300 a pop, I love the 22s but they offer scant protection. Though I am wondering if I should go 19s... but this all makes me sad, the car looks so awesome on 22s.
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Not sure if it would make that much difference to be honest.

All of my damaged wheels have been 18's....
 
sandys said:
Aaargh potholes...... two tyres stuffed

Went to report on council site, it was already reported almost a year ago when someone else had a similar blowout....:rolleyes:

20230413-123001.jpg
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Similar thing happened to mine on friday but tyre is ok just the diamond cut alloy is knackered .... could not avoid it either too deep too late to see it just nicked the side & cut the alloy & tyre got a little nick in it.
 
Time to return to 38 tonne GVW on British roads. Also those single wheel axles with 5 tonnes on a single tyre. Returning to a twin tyre would asist in not damaging the surface.

It is always braking and acceleration points particularly on bends where potholes start and it is 90% HGV
 
I've seen many on housing estates where lorries rarely go, or even cars going high speeds though.

I suspect surfaces just aren't being laid properly and they are using cheap materials much of the time. I've been noticing many recently resurfaced roads aren't level and make a ton of road noise. Water is probably getting in and it just falls to bits.
 
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Just got back form Rhodes and rented a car for 2 days and drove pretty much all over the island, I think I saw 1 pothole in the entire drive.

I'd say it was down to the lack of traffic and usage they get, but it made me realise I'd forgotten what it was like to drive on decent roads!
 
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sandys said:
Yup, its probably a mix of volume, the weather extremes and poor repair than just HGVs.
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We do not have extremes of weather in the UK. We have poor maintenance of drainage and poor repair scheduling. Waiting for it to fail.

Once the wear course has gone, all the wear occurs in the subbase. The hammering of tyres hitting potholes only makes it worse and patching small sections is useless.

They really should remove whole road sections replacing more than the top layer of tarmac. And HGV's do cause much of the damage.
 
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