BBC News - Damaged rural roads could be abandoned, warn councils God bless those who got us into this economic mess
For once, I don't think we need to be arguing about who to blame for a genearl "economic mess" (Labour party, bankers, etc)... We could say that it is something to do with weather conditions, which are certainly not helping. However, the main problem is simply that there is no connection whatsoever between the vast amount of taxes paid by road users (fuel duty, VAT, insurance premium tax, vehicle excise duty - which of course has not been called "road tax" for decades) and the amount spent by both central government and local authorities on maintaining the roads. In fact the tax take is much more than the total spent on the roads as far as I know. It's just too tempting for central givernment to hang on to more of it for other pressing requirements, and local government is now a basket-case, with ever-increasing responsibilities, stagnant revenue (not that I want to pay more council tax, which is already at an outrageous level), massive pension obligations, etc...
Its becoming quite popular to sue the council for damage to vehicle in my neck of the woods. As the area is know for insurance scams as it is, I imagine its costing the taxpayer far more than any repairs would.
There are many roads throughout the UK which were never tarmac'ed in the first place. A century ago, when lots of roads were metalled, lots more were left in their ancient state, i.e. dirt, mud, grass, gravel, etc. Perhaps some of the roads which were chosen for metalling then will soon be allowed to revert to green lanes.
...So that the council can then re-classify it as a bridleway and ban motorised traffic altogether:frown:
I've got a great idea: You could install automatic cameras that would generate speeding fines. If you installed enough of them, particularly on dead straight roads in rural areas, the local authority should easily be able to make enough money to fix the roads. It's a win-win, isn't it?
hell yeah! Genius!! You could also get assholes hiding behind a bush to nab the occasional speeding bike!!... What a great idea.to fund road repairs! Or helicopters which costs thousands per hour to catch a biker or two a day!... What a wonderful governmint we have!!
Well my "Potholes" post got ignored so I thought I'd add it here. Or maybe we're all happy with the roads? So as a nation our Government can justify spending over £50 Billion on HS2 while forcing road maintenance savings on Councils, who maintain 90% of our roads.These are false savings in the long run. Result is cheap short term repairs that don't last and the dramatic rise in compensation for the damage caused to vehicles. There is also the safety of roadusers and we are all particularly vulnerable on two wheels. So a few people in Westminster can drive through this very unpopular rail infrastructure project while I am confident 80-85% of the population would put having safe, usable good roads as a far more important use of our resources. So what can we do? One thing is to COMPLAIN. Write to your MP, complain to your Council and the Highways Agency. These complaints won't be ignored; I've been amazed recently that complaints about litter made in person to the McDonalds Manager has brought an immediate improvement. Another complaint about overweight 40' Artics using a small B road as a shortcut has also had a big reaction; A traffic police/weights and measures team out within days and a call to me in the evening. It almost seemed like they needed some ammunition in order to act. So don't just shrug your shoulders and accept it - get online and complain now! Mr Grumpy
Either the Highways Agency are spending it in the pub on the Friday afternoon or the government are completely oblivious to the scale of the problem. Our roads are a national disgrace (again "Dave" promised he would sort them out), I accept that the weather is a factor, but actually this year it's been pretty mild, we haven't had any severe sub zero weather here in the south this winter so far. If I were cynical (which I am) I would suggest that the motivation for not repairing the roads is not just cost it's also about reducing average speeds. It's bad enough in a car, but on a bike I spend half the time looking at the road surface to avoid crashing into a huge crater, in fact I try and avoid rural roads completely. Perhaps the state of the roads is the reason why BMW are selling so many GS's
Kirky's right, there's no point having a whinge here, put pen to paper or finger to keyboard (or thumb, Tel...) and start complaining to the right people.
I contact my local council direct, and they've not let me down yet, they always at least have a look at the problem.
whilst i understand at present the authorities need to make temporary repairs, when they eventually re-surface they need to do it properly. Here in South Wiltshire we have had a number of roads resurfaced in the last few years, all without exception have lost areas of the new surface. This is because the new asphalt I estimate is only 25 mm thick, it doesn't properly bond with the substrate and is not sufficient to absorb the impact of HGV's
There is a stretch of road just outside Oxford on the way to Eynsham that's like something out of Cambodia. It has been reported and this is the response Who does the inspections, Stevie Wonder?
I have reported it to OCC so have many others and it has been ignored for years now and is just getting worse and worse. I'll try and post a picture of it, it has to be seen to be believed, all I can think is that it has been deliberately left as is to slow traffic down coming in to Oxford
The problem as I see it is all off us and our inability to stick together and take a stand, we are all happy to sign an anonymous petition on a web site but that generally gets us nowhere more appropriate I suspect might be for an entire street or even town to stand up and say we are withholding council tax until the problem is fixed!! the answer you'd get from most people would be "oh I don't want to cause a fuss" Government and Councils are very quick to take our money and threaten action if we don't pay up pronto and then waste it, and we really don't have any recourse or say in what they do
