2008-11-24 - Rider Down

Nice link Vee Vee thanks. Just reported a nasty spill of Gravel near me.

The logic of the compensation here is simply that had the pothole not been there, Multi Grooves wouldn't have had his crash. The negligence by the council is clear and easy to establish. However, in partial defence of councils:

Why shouldn't every pot hole be fixed? If it's a danger it shouldn't be there. Why am I paying my council tax then? Hippy posted various URLs above. It's clearly an issue. HTFU does not apply here. MultiGrooves shouldn't be paying out twice (council tax and his fucked up wheel/self).

What makes me mad is the fact we pay through a top rate for council/road tax, companies who do dig the road up are also penalised. We don't see the benefits.

Unfortunately, no local authority has much money for street resurfacing. Reasons:

(1) Most streets in London don't have an adequate base to ensure longer life. They are still 19th century (or earlier) underneath a thin layer of wearing course that on a main street has to be relaid roughly every three years. The problem is that the ingrained culture of patching up is largely unavoidable, as a full-on job on re-bedding a street is expensive, and few authorities have this sort of money in any one financial year when there are often far more pressing priorities.

(2) Damage from HGVs in particular and buses is massive and a daily occurrence. It's simply impossible to keep up.

(3) Motor traffic in London has increased and there is much more construction activity.

(4) Utility companies can make openings quite freely and often re-instate them very poorly, the recent widespread Thames Water works are (so far) an honourable exception. But every reinstatement of a carriageway opening is a time bomb as unsurprisingly they often deteriorate more quickly than the surface around them.

(5) Apparently, London is largely built on soil that is very prone to subsidence. I don't understand any of the details but I'm sure a geologist could explain. Apparently it's worse in London than elsewhere, but I don't know why.

(6) The reason why not more money can be allocated for resurfacing from council tax has to do with the hidden cost of motoring. There is no ringfenced tax on use of streets (only a tax on vehicles, Vehicle Excise Duty, which is poured into the general taxation pot) as motoring is heavily subsidised in this country and it is reckoned that if hauliers had to pay for the damage their vehicles cause they'd all go out of business very quickly (and rail would come back).

(7) London's population has increased extremely fast in the last fifteen years.

(8) The length of London's street network is estimated to be around 13,500km. Of this, the Transport for London Road Network accounts for about 550km. The rest is the responsibility of the 33 local authorities, an average of about 400km.

So, reporting everything amiss that you see really helps both bike riders and councils. Every injury and subsequent compensation claim avoided is a good thing. Council officers often have to rely on working with responsible members of the public, as it is impossible for the few officers typically employed by a local authority to check all of the borough all the time. Tips from people who have local knowledge are really valuable.

Report potholes to the TfL website

And VeeVee is right to point out the TfL reporting site. That's the best way of reporting street faults in London. Let them do the work for you of finding out who's responsible.

It is a very serious issue. We have had unconfirmed reports that at least one fatality in London this year became a victim of poor carriageway surfacing. This is awaiting the inquest, so I don't want to speculate.

I have a similar issue on my route, a massive congestion charge C was painted last week on a road which I turn into every morning. You can't avoid it. It is quite scary when wet. Bloody stupid! I am not sure who to contact but I will contact TfL and the council.

Where is this, VeeVee? You can contact your local LCC group if you need to find out whom to contact in the council. They usually know someone.

On the plus side, the slipperiness will probably wear off. I remember having exactly the same issue when the Cs first appeared some years ago (the ones with a red circle), but they wore quite quickly. Not that I'm saying it shouldn't have been considered in the first place!

Oliver, i don't remember you looking much like Boris Johnson?

:P

hope you're not too bruised multi - the council to the best of my knowledge are indeed culpable. see you soon hopefully.

Oliver, i don't remember you looking much like Boris Johnson?

:P

I think he's copying me.

Dude, only just picked this thread up... Hope you're OK... Dark wet streets x hidden potholes are indeed a fucking nightmare... Heal fast...

you need to borrow a wheel?

round these parts the council only pay out if the pothole has been previously reported and not yet fixed. So if you are the lucky finder, you get nowt.
then the council pass the buck onto the water/leccy/gas board or the nearest industrial or agricultural land owner.......

good luck,

get well soon and count your blessings.

I don't want to give you compassion fatigue or anything like that JDB but have a heart for fuck sake, heres an example:

you run into pot hole and your front rim is fucked:

new rim £35
your rim is not in stock you have to wait three days, three days tube £17.40
you cant build wheels so you pay a bike shop mechanic to do it £25

I don't know about you but I don't have £77.40 to HTFU so easily, so yes I would want reimbursed or at least in part by the authority that look after the road ..I mean they are supposed to keep it in a usable condition for ALL road users.

when budgeting or road repair they take into account the likely cost of lawsuits caused by roads in disrepair, the more people sue, the higher the projected cost becomes, the more roads they fix to avoid it. its fairly simple.

Thanks peeps! Got a warm glowing feeling...(I fucking love extacy). I sent in a report to a resident association leader with good links and it has been forwarded to the Mayor's office, so I await.
Thankfully I have a spare wheel Stallion, cheers again all.