The potholes blighting UK roads have inspired some very strange behaviour in recent weeks.
Fishing, flower planting, alien manifestations and even one of Hollywood’s most chilling farewell love scenes have all been used to warn drivers about dangerous potholes.
Beast from the East took its toll on roads
Damage caused by snow and ice blown in by the Beast from the East exacerbated the crisis caused by potholes blighting UK highways and byways.
A report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance found a fifth of local roads in England and Wales were in a poor condition and warned that councils faced a £566 million annual funding black hole to maintain carriageways.
In response, the Government announced an extra £100 million to be set aside to fill the potholes blighting UK highways and make them safer.
Cash to repair two million potholes blighting UK highways
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the cash would help repair almost two million potholes and protect roads from further bad weather.
He said: “People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family. We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads.
“Giving councils more funding would mean all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.
Government cash is “too little, too late”
However, local council’s argue the funding amounted to just over one per cent of the £9.3 billion they needed to sort out a 14-year backlog of potholes.
In some areas motorists seem to be intent on shaming councils into taking action.
In the tiny Buckinghamshire village of Steeple Claydon one resident has taken to casting his fishing rod over one particularly cevenous water-filled pothole.
Elsewhere in the village an alien seems to be emerging from another.
And is that Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio re-enacting that famous farewell scene from Titanic?
Pothole vigilantes also say it with flowers
Elsewhere in the country, and most notably in Bath, people are so fed up with the “death trap” potholes that they have started planting spring flowers in them to act as a warning to road users. These pothole vigilantes call themselves the “guerilla gardeners”.
While these efforts may raise a smile, you’ll be laughing on the other side of your face if you drive through a pothole and your car is damaged.
You might be able to claim for the damage from the local highways authority but, in these testing times, it’s particularly important to ensure you have comprehensive motor insurance in place too. It’s so much better to be safe than sorry.
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