Reply to: Potholes

[MicrosoftBob]

they do and I welcome this change.

Many accidents (60% or so) have nothing to do with speed. so publishing & prosecuting speed as the biggest cause fails to deal with that.

First question is always 'what speed were they doing', not did they pull out in front of you?

Higher speed limits can lead to lower accident rates on some roads, says a study in Denmark

[vetran]

Presumably they'll link "speed related" in with that - the point being that very few accidents are "unavoidable" as any IAM/ROSPA driver will attest to. The problem I find with self confessed "fast" drivers is that they're all about car control and "handling" - when on the roads the real skill is judgement and anticipation with regards to the road and other drivers.

they do and I welcome this change.

Many accidents (60% or so) have nothing to do with speed. so publishing & prosecuting speed as the biggest cause fails to deal with that.

First question is always 'what speed were they doing', not did they pull out in front of you?

[SteelyDan]

try this if you want to pursue a claim, but you'd need to establish if it's Council or Highways Agency (Service Provider) responsibility:

Pothole damage, how to make a claim | AA Breakdown Cover

[greenlake]

Anti-roll bar bracket is fubared. £350 to fix.

At least the damage wasn't any more serious than that....

[vwdan]

Saw this, no apparently its not speed its errors.

95% of all crashes are human errors not accidents - Northern Ireland - News - Activities - Yours

I suppose avoiding a pot hole is an error?

Presumably they'll link "speed related" in with that - the point being that very few accidents are "unavoidable" as any IAM/ROSPA driver will attest to. The problem I find with self confessed "fast" drivers is that they're all about car control and "handling" - when on the roads the real skill is judgement and anticipation with regards to the road and other drivers.

[vetran]

Going back to the OP, anyone care to comment on the appalling state of some of our roads?

I mean, I'm not imagining they're worse than they used to be am I?

they are worse 20 years ago I drove 30-40k a year,now I drive less than 10k but I see more potholes

This is probably because of ideological objection to cars, the councils & government dislike cars so spend less fixing roads. Maybe someone should remind them that is safety that is the issue?

Saw this, no apparently its not speed its errors.

95% of all crashes are human errors not accidents - Northern Ireland - News - Activities - Yours

I suppose avoiding a pot hole is an error?

[Gittins Gal]

Going back to the OP, anyone care to comment on the appalling state of some of our roads?

I mean, I'm not imagining they're worse than they used to be am I?

[Ticktock]

My missus needs to be able to commute to Warrington, but otherwise somewhere a bit rural to rent whilst we start scouting out the places we want to buy a house

It will be away from the A55 as we have cats, so we don't want to be next to an A road

We're probably looking between Llangollen to the west and probably as far as Mold to the east for now, she's never done commuting before so needs to broken in gently. For me commutes to London are going to more realistic

I've driven normal cars with 'snow mode' over fresh snow to get to clients, but knew if it we had a few feet come down I'd be stuck there, moving out to the stick I want a least one car for a long commute as realistically I will be driving a fair distance to any client

Um, Llangollen and Mold are nearly direct due North and South from each other, and neither anywhere near the A55!
In any case I wasn't suggesting living on the A55 itself - it's basically a motorway!
For the sort of area you're looking at I don't see any need for a 4WD at all - if you want one, fine, but you don't need one. You're not in the mountains in that area. Yes, you might get some snow, but it's the same as the countryside anywhere else in the UK where the vast majority of people don't need 4WD.

I pity you the commute to London though - my wife and I have been looking at moving to Wales for a few years now, but can't see how we can do it while I need to work. We've tried the Mon-Fri stayaway and it really didn't work for us.

[MicrosoftBob]

"North Wales" doesn't really define your need.
You could be up on the A55, in which case you don't need a 4WD.
You could be up in the mountainous areas, in which case you don't normally need a 4WD, but may in really bad weather once you get off the paved highway onto your driveway.
You could be up a mountain, in which case you don't really need a 4WD most of the time, but may be stuck without one every now and again.

So for the first two situations a RAV4 would be fine, but then so would a Vauxhall Corsa.

My missus needs to be able to commute to Warrington, but otherwise somewhere a bit rural to rent whilst we start scouting out the places we want to buy a house

It will be away from the A55 as we have cats, so we don't want to be next to an A road

We're probably looking between Llangollen to the west and probably as far as Mold to the east for now, she's never done commuting before so needs to broken in gently. For me commutes to London are going to more realistic

I've driven normal cars with 'snow mode' over fresh snow to get to clients, but knew if it we had a few feet come down I'd be stuck there, moving out to the stick I want a least one car for a long commute as realistically I will be driving a fair distance to any client

[Ticktock]

"North Wales" doesn't really define your need.
You could be up on the A55, in which case you don't need a 4WD.
You could be up in the mountainous areas, in which case you don't normally need a 4WD, but may in really bad weather once you get off the paved highway onto your driveway.
You could be up a mountain, in which case you don't really need a 4WD most of the time, but may be stuck without one every now and again.

So for the first two situations a RAV4 would be fine, but then so would a Vauxhall Corsa.

[vwdan]

I was intrigued as I'm moving to north wales shortly, and am going to need a 4X4 by next winter, and was looking at RAV4 as people were recommending them as cheap and good enough to get me out on to the main highways and back to commuterville

Looks like a lot more research is needed

It's a Toyota, so probably good start in fairness - realistically, if it's normal, but snowy, roads you're worried about nearly any 4x4 vehicle with decent winter tyres will probably do the trick. The problem you'll have is that anything truly off road is going to compromise heavily on comfort, economy or is going to be expensive.

Part of my hatred of 4 x 4's in general use is that they're treated as tall cars with people ploughing along the snowy roads on their summer tyres etc.

[MicrosoftBob]

I'm just thinking it sounds like every other Chelsea Tractor being driven like it's a British Army Range Rover! Ripping bash plates off, smashing up ARB's over potholes? Either they're built very badly, or it's being abused!

I was intrigued as I'm moving to north wales shortly, and am going to need a 4X4 by next winter, and was looking at RAV4 as people were recommending them as cheap and good enough to get me out on to the main highways and back to commuterville

Looks like a lot more research is needed

[VectraMan]

My Mum has a RAV4. Good car. But obviously not intended to deal with anything more difficult that a few leaves on the road.

[Gittins Gal]

I'm just thinking it sounds like every other Chelsea Tractor being driven like it's a British Army Range Rover! Ripping bash plates off, smashing up ARB's over potholes? Either they're built very badly, or it's being abused!

While the engine, electrics and various other subsystems have been rock solid in the 6 years I've had the car, some of the coachwork and trim is somewhat plasticky.

[d000hg]

The council will probably deny all knowledge of said pothole, insist they've never been informed of its existence, & refuse to pay a penny.

Councils have specific procedures by which potholes can be reported and are then tracked - we've reported them before. And you know what councils are like with procedure, it must be followed.

Quite a few near us right now, probably pretty soon the repair van will turn up as it does after each winter.