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Potholes could lead to accidents and deaths (From Bucks Free Press)
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Potholes could lead to accidents and deaths
10:51am Friday 9th April 2010
EVEN before the cold snap earlier this year in January, I had already been in contact with Bucks County Council on four occasions to register dangerous potholes in two particular roads, one in Wooster Road in Beaconsfield and the other in Wellington Road at Cressex.
After registering three complaints with the council about the potholes in Wooster Road, a large section of the road was thankfully recently re-surfaced, for which residents are extremely thankful.
However it is the deteriorating state of the roads in south Bucks that must surely be of serious concern to vehicle drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
Travelling to work in High Wycombe is now more like an adventure ride with motorists constantly swerving round potholes, so as to try to protect their suspensions, which occasionally results in them closely missing other oncoming vehicles.
I recently had to have a rear suspension linkage repaired on my car, so I am very well aware of the damage, time and inconvenience unrepaired potholes can cause.
Why do council taxpayers put up with the state of our roads?
I just do not understand why more drivers do not complain. Surely if enough residents did make legitimate complaints, the authorities would have to make repairing our roads a priority?
Last November, I reported the state of Wellington Road in Cressex.
No repairs appear to have taken place since. Since then the snow and ice have turned a section of Wellington Road into a mini Somme.
Earlier this month I again reported the deteriorating road condition and the appearance of several new potholes to the highways department. The reply was they had no money left to resurface the road!
They did say they would send someone at some point to have a look, but stressed they had no budget and would only effect a repair if the pothole was small and deep, as apparently wide pot holes present no danger as vehicles can navigate them safely they say – no wonder I have not seen anyone repairing potholes recently.
I asked about road safety and if it would help if I wrote to my MP to help secure the highways department more funding for vital repairs. Apparently not it seemed.
Surely public safety and maintaining our roads should come before say cutting the grass on council-owned fields?
It seems to me that our roads will continue to crumble until someone in authority provides the department with more funding and empowers them to systematically repair all the roads. If we all just reported the potholes in the roads where we lived and worked, I hope the authorities would realise the scale of the problem before it is too late, as these potholes could cause road accidents and deaths.
When I was young, road safety was taught in schools. Maybe it should also be taught to Buckinghamshire County Council chiefs who hold the purse strings and have the means to address the growing pothole crisis.
Surely Mr Editor, prevention is better than cure?
Mark Austin, Sheepcote.
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Bonios, High Wycombe says...
11:50am Wed 14 Apr 10
The danger is that this discussion is deemed as one long moan, a bit like when we all moaned about the snow - until the point of not mentioning it, as it bcame so boring to do so.
Driving on the A40 through Wycombe is becoming like 'It's A Knockout'. Dodging potholes, and trying to avoid damage to your vehicle has become so hazardous every day. I see drivers, and I do include myself in this, focusing more on avoidance than properly assessing the road ahead. The road beside the hospital is like a field full of land-mines. Only this morning, I saw drivers passing through the zebra crossings with scant regard for pedestrians. Their minds were too focused on avoiding trench-like holes in the road. How do the ambulances cope with this?
Sorry, Wycombe council. You've let us down. Just because the 'pot hole' discussions seemed to have faded from the spotlight of earlier in the year, does not mean you have done anything to prevent or cure the problem.