Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Pothole that sent Bristol cyclist ‘flying’ to be fixed after he complained on social media

Victim said that if traffic had been moving, he would have been tweeting from A&E

A Clifton pothole will be fixed after a cyclist who fell victim to it tweeted about it.

The Bristol Post reports that Max Hemmings hit the pothole on Monday.

 

 

Tagging in the council, he added, “in all seriousness, without being too dramatic, if the traffic was moving I could easily be tweeting this from A&E.”

He received a response from Better By Bike which campaigns to get people cycling in the West Country, who reported the incident.

They subsequently tweeted that an order had been raised with contractors for repairs and that the work should be completed in approximately 10 working days.

In March, The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that 17 per cent of roads across England and Wales can be considered ‘poor’ – meaning they will need to be repaired within the next five years.

The estimated one-time catch-up cost to get roads back into reasonable condition has risen from £11.8bn in 2015/16 to £12.06bn in 2016/17.

Asphalt Industry Alliance chairman Alan Mackenzie commented: “The message from the research which informs ALARM is that highway teams simply do not have enough money to arrest the terminal decline in the condition of our local roads and the network is not resilient enough to meet the challenges ahead.”

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

Add new comment

22 comments

Avatar
burtthebike | 7 years ago
3 likes

TBH, I thought everyone knew of the CUK's website, FillThatHole https://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ for reporting exactly this kind of defect.  If only all those people who apparently already knew about this pothole had reported it, he wouldn't have fallen off.

It's simple quick and easy to report potholes using that site, and in any further exchanges with the council, it can be proved that the defect had been reported.

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to burtthebike | 7 years ago
1 like
burtthebike wrote:

it can be proved that the defect had been reported.

Which is important because councils own website often don't give you a record. Suits them for it not to be provable, of course.

Avatar
Bigtwin replied to burtthebike | 7 years ago
0 likes
burtthebike wrote:

It's simple quick and easy to report potholes using that site, and in any further exchanges with the council, it can be proved that the defect had been reported.

 

Yeah - and?  Look at Surrey in the league table.  Their repair rate is effectively zero, and if you look on the map there are potholes that were reported 5+ years ago and regularly since.

Good site that it is, it's still entirely dependent of local authorities giving a flying fick, and many still don't.

Avatar
ironmancole | 7 years ago
4 likes

12 billion to fix the roads here and now!

So, sensibly we cannot really afford to add yet more miles to our road network given we can't maintain the ones we do have.

So, why has my local MP announced with great gusto the building of a bypass 'to help alleviate town centre congestion' when it is obviously fiscal recklessness?

When will our government wake up and realise you can't just keep building roads all over the place and accept we have to get people off their arses and onto bicycles?

 

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to ironmancole | 7 years ago
0 likes
ironmancole wrote:

12 billion to fix the roads here and now!

So, sensibly we cannot really afford to add yet more miles to our road network given we can't maintain the ones we do have.

So, why has my local MP announced with great gusto the building of a bypass 'to help alleviate town centre congestion' when it is obviously fiscal recklessness?

When will our government wake up and realise you can't just keep building roads all over the place and accept we have to get people off their arses and onto bicycles?

Politicians like announcing and opening new things - because so do the voters. Not many photo ops in an existing road that doesn't have a pothole but might have done if it hadn't been looked after properly.

Because of the way capital and maintenance money is doled out from central government to local authorities, it's easier to bid for more of the former because the latter isn't negotiable. So if you're a council which wants more roads money, then its capital for new things or nothing (save for the odd buttons from a one-off pothole competition).

And revenue for maintenance may be diverted for other purposes, e.g. social care, whereas a specific grant for a bypass has to be spent on a bypass.

And then there's the split between the generously-funded strategic road network and the cash-strapped local one(s), the latter being the more used, especially by cyclists.

Finally, we aren't really building roads all over the place - we haven't really built that many in recent decades.

Or maybe your questions were rhetorical...?  4

 

Avatar
Critchio | 7 years ago
4 likes

I'm probably wrong here so go easy on me, just some observations and musings .... I'm getting the feeling of complacency here ... After all that pot ain't a real pothole is it? Bah! I've bunny hopped bigger pot holes with my eyes closed and one leg off the pedal!

That road defect is downright fucking dangerous and perfect for tramlining a cyclist either spilling onto the pavement or spilling into the path of a close passing twit in their vehicle. Whilst most cycling enthusiasts and pro experts alike would never ride that close to the kerb, me included, not everyone thinks like that. Child or teenage cyclists don't think like that, grannies on their 3 speed shoppers don't think like that and anyone could be forced to swerve in towards a kerb by bullying drivers trying to squeeze through gaps that aren't there.

So, we are becoming normalised to dangerous road defects. A few years ago that photo would have had a much more robust reaction. Now it's, "ain't that bad dude."

Actually, it is.

Avatar
morgoth985 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Yes, Bulgaria too

Avatar
Bmblbzzz | 7 years ago
1 like

I thought the term that replaced "Third world" was "developing", which always seems imprecise to me; it implies there are countries which have reached a final state of development beyond which no further movement is possible. All countries are in fact in a continuous state of development. 

 

Anywayz, that pot hole; it's not at all big, even for the Triangle. Big enough to send you a cropper though. 

Avatar
Valbrona | 7 years ago
0 likes

This country is shit.

Avatar
mike the bike replied to Valbrona | 7 years ago
2 likes
Valbrona wrote:

This country is shit.

 

Try moving to Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Bangla Desh or The Phillipines or Columbia or Romania or Zimbabwe or Mexico or Sudan or Egypt or Bulgaria or Syria or Iraq or Tibet or Ethiopia or China or Russia or Chad or .............. and there's plenty more where they came from.

Avatar
brooksby replied to mike the bike | 7 years ago
0 likes
mike the bike wrote:
Valbrona wrote:

This country is shit.

 

Try moving to Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Bangla Desh or The Phillipines or Columbia or Romania or Zimbabwe or Mexico or Sudan or Egypt or Bulgaria or Syria or Iraq or Tibet or Ethiopia or China or Russia or Chad or .............. and there's plenty more where they came from.

Well, yeah, point taken; but none of them are saying that they're "First World " countries... (the UK does still say it's in the first world, doesn't it? I lose track)

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to brooksby | 7 years ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:
mike the bike wrote:
Valbrona wrote:

This country is shit.

 

Try moving to Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Bangla Desh or The Phillipines or Columbia or Romania or Zimbabwe or Mexico or Sudan or Egypt or Bulgaria or Syria or Iraq or Tibet or Ethiopia or China or Russia or Chad or .............. and there's plenty more where they came from.

Well, yeah, point taken; but none of them are saying that they're "First World " countries... (the UK does still say it's in the first world, doesn't it? I lose track)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 'First World' and 'Third World' are no longer to be used!

When I did A-level Geography a couple years ago, the PC brigade had decided that the correct terms are "More Economically Developed Countries" and "Less Economically Developed Countries" - this will change in a couple years no doubt.

I was also told that the correct term for someone of mixed race is "dual heritage" - funnily enough, unless you are inbred (like some of the pc brigade), everyone is of dual heritage.

Make of this what you will.

Avatar
brooksby replied to Canyon48 | 7 years ago
0 likes
wellsprop wrote:
brooksby wrote:
mike the bike wrote:
Valbrona wrote:

This country is shit.

 

Try moving to Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Bangla Desh or The Phillipines or Columbia or Romania or Zimbabwe or Mexico or Sudan or Egypt or Bulgaria or Syria or Iraq or Tibet or Ethiopia or China or Russia or Chad or .............. and there's plenty more where they came from.

Well, yeah, point taken; but none of them are saying that they're "First World " countries... (the UK does still say it's in the first world, doesn't it? I lose track)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 'First World' and 'Third World' are no longer to be used!

OK; in that case, somebody needs to tell the hashtag police...

Avatar
MonkeyPuzzle replied to Canyon48 | 7 years ago
3 likes

When I did A-level Geography a couple years ago, the PC brigade had decided that the correct terms are "More Economically Developed Countries" and "Less Economically Developed Countries" - this will change in a couple years no doubt.

You only did your A-levels two years ago and you use terms like "PC brigade"? I guess the country has more to worry about than potholes.

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to MonkeyPuzzle | 7 years ago
0 likes
MonkeyPuzzle][quote=wellsprop wrote:

When I did A-level Geography a couple years ago, the PC brigade had decided that the correct terms are "More Economically Developed Countries" and "Less Economically Developed Countries" - this will change in a couple years no doubt.

You only did your A-levels two years ago and you use terms like "PC brigade"? I guess the country has more to worry about than potholes.

It was meant ironically :p

You would be amazed at the political correctness overkill at schools though. Teachers are pretty much not allowed to tell students that they are wrong anymore...

University is somewhat similar, the SU banned songs they deem offensive from being played at uni.

Avatar
Jackson replied to mike the bike | 7 years ago
0 likes
mike the bike wrote:
Valbrona wrote:

This country is shit.

 

Try moving to Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Bangla Desh or The Phillipines or Columbia or Romania or Zimbabwe or Mexico or Sudan or Egypt or Bulgaria or Syria or Iraq or Tibet or Ethiopia or China or Russia or Chad or .............. and there's plenty more where they came from.

I've been to a few of the places in this list and the roads in China, Mexico and The Phillipines are much better than in England. 

Avatar
davel replied to Jackson | 7 years ago
0 likes
Jackson wrote:
mike the bike wrote:
Valbrona wrote:

This country is shit.

 

Try moving to Yemen or Afghanistan or Somalia or Albania or Bangla Desh or The Phillipines or Columbia or Romania or Zimbabwe or Mexico or Sudan or Egypt or Bulgaria or Syria or Iraq or Tibet or Ethiopia or China or Russia or Chad or .............. and there's plenty more where they came from.

I've been to a few of the places in this list and the roads in China, Mexico and The Phillipines are much better than in England. 

How many of your 326 posts have been anything like objective about the UK? If you just want to complain about particular aspects of it, there are more appropriate forums.

Avatar
brooksby | 7 years ago
0 likes

Tbh for central Bristol that defect really (edited) isn't that bad. That particular one, I think, has been there a very long time (I just never ride that close to the kerb to catch it).

Avatar
Leviathan | 7 years ago
1 like

There is a lot more exactly like that in Blackburn, Lancashire. Councils will not repave until the road is falling to pieces even when it is cheaper in the long run.

Avatar
Accessibility f... replied to Leviathan | 7 years ago
7 likes
Leviathan wrote:

There is a lot more exactly like that in Blackburn, Lancashire. 

3,999 more, to be exact.

Avatar
CygnusX1 replied to Accessibility for all | 5 years ago
1 like
Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:
Leviathan wrote:

There is a lot more exactly like that in Blackburn, Lancashire. 

3,999 more, to be exact.

Wow! That's enough to fill the Albert Hall.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 7 years ago
3 likes

That pothole doesn't look too bad, but the shape of it means that it can catch a bike wheel easily.

Now, are we going to get into a strongly worded debate about whether you should ride that close to the kerb? (Personally, I'd be taking up a lane on that section as it's slightly downhill and there's two lanes of one-way traffic).

P.S. Don't read the toxic BristolPost anti-cyclist comments.

Latest Comments