I’ve been a motorcycle rider for 44 years on the road, and since 11 years old around the field of my parents. The roads today are absolutely shocking and in a diabolical state of repair!.. it’s all very well having plenty of space between yourself and the vehicle in front so you have a better chance of spotting holes in the road, and many are enormous to say the least, but in doing so your eyes are scanning the road ahead more than what you should really be concentrating on, and that’s someone potentially stepping off a footpath or a stray dog , even a deer maybe in certain areas. The councils spend more, as a previous comment said on road signs, digging another hole in the road and filling it back in so poorly it’s unbelievable. All the governments and councils do is penalise the road user by upping the road tax, fuel taxes, etc etc. But it’s the motorists/motorcyclists and lorries that pay all this, that funds the council, apparently for road repairs etc. Pity we don’t seem to see the benefit. Instead this money is flittered away into other avenues - non of which this money should be used for. Also many councils apparently going into bust!…. Unbelievable how much money spent in this country by the government on everything but the most important thing….. The people paying their taxes for a better road network and the underfunded NHS… The government should be ashamed!
As you quite rightly say, local authorities seem to have the budget for ever increasing signs, road markings and other street furniture, but when it comes to the very basic task of filling in a hole they say there’s no budget. When I’m riding I’m certainly guilty of paying more attention to the road surface than to other hazards. I know that’s wrong but the size and depth of some of them are staggering. I honestly don’t know how councils get away with it. So dangerous.
Apparently they were signed up to a contract only one company can repair whatever they see fit and charge the council whatever they wish. They'll charge a fortune and repair nothing it seems
If you want to see pot holes come over to Ireland . The roads are a disgrace . I hit a pot hole at night on my Vmax .It destoryed the rad and front tyre . I contacted the local council and they said hard luck watch where your are going . Now its pitch black and a big bike . Here in Ireland we pay the highest road tax in Europe and the roads cause hell. Thanks for the stream mate and have just subed 👍👍👍
Local busy road by me had a 1mile section that was riddled with pot holes, the entire community came together to report and draw attention to the dangerous stretch of road to the powers that be….nothing happened for months until a car had an accident due to said potholes and a life was unfortunately lost, week after the entire stretch of road was fixed. They don’t care unless poo hits fan.
If you were walking around a supermarket and fell into a hole in the aisle, and broke your ankle, you'd surly be compensated. Are councils no longer responsible for road maintenance. If you see potholes , take a photo 📸 of it and report it .
This is something I have done before (Surrey) and when posting, you should see how many reports there are for the same holes!!! Unfortunately, most of the time it is not possible to take the picture to report ... should really be the council doing this. They should not be reliant on the public but it feels like they are given how long it takes for repairs even with so many reports. Personally, I don't think the issue is money but rather poor workmanship and/or inspections ... holes return within weeks or months.
Just came across your channel, great advice, our roads are getting ridiculous, where i live there's a busy road, and its full of deep pot holes on both lanes its been reported by loads of drivers, and still nothing has been done, you literally have to weave your way through, otherwise your bike or car would more than likely be damaged, someone is going to have a bad accident or get killed, its crazy.
Unfortunately, with modern roads, you more often need to replace the whole damn thing because once it gets bad enough, there isn't a repair that will stick
Oh Man, I can see how this is so frustrating.. I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect our roads to be safe for us to use, given the taxes we pay, yet due to poor maintenance we could be held liable/responsible. I understand that turning into another vehicles path to avoid a pothole is totally wrong, but sometimes drivers want to protect their vehicle and make a bad choice, but when the road surfaces are so bad surely this shifts the morel compass to those providing the roads rather than those using them.
Thank you for this video. I note all the comments that still react in the ‘someone else is at fault’ manner, but we are, each and every one, primarily responsible for our own safety (and that of those around us to a degree) and you make that point clearly. I note that some councils are now not ‘patching’ potholes, they are(only) repairing them properly, but this means a longer delay before repair, though it also means less likelihood of a reappearance of that pothole (a common occurrence on ‘patchwork’). Again, thanks for the video and its wise discussion. Les
15 yrs ago my brother was riding on a road between 2 villages, it had been raining and he was travelling 35 in a 50mph, as he rounded a semi blind bend there was a tiny crack that widened and turned into a pothole. His tyre got sucked in and he ended up highsided with bruises and minor bumps, but his bike carried on towards a ditch. His bike came to rest on an old chevron sign on the edge of the ditch and the weight of the bike and the wet ground resulted in both the sign and bike falling into it. He rang the local council to report the poor state of the road and explained that his bike sustained damage, and they said not their problem and billed him £400+ to have the sign replaced!
Interesting, thanks for your viewpoint. Driving a car and approaching serious potholes across my lane along a main road near to where I live, rather than swerve to the opposite side of the road I pulled up to a stop whilst indicating right, and when the opposite carriageway was clear I maneuvered safely around the obstacle.
None. When public services are required, the gov guarantee a loan from the central bank by bonds. This has an interest fee applied. So for every pound borrowed, one pound and ten pence is owed for example. This goes for new hospitals, roads, parks, etc etc. this generates a debt which the bonds guarantee to the banks by using future tax payments to repay. All tax, vat, duty, income, corporation, capital gains is put into one big pot to pay down these loans. We are paying off that debt from the past. Fix a pot hole today and your kids will pay that off, not your road duty. Interestingly, we all paid circa 5% of our tax bill towards repaying a debt generated when the gov compensated slave owners in order to end slavery in the Uk. We finished paying that in 2015.
I agree with your opinion that Car Drivers these days aren't as focused on Driving and have to many distractions. The amount of people I pass and I look at them and they're on their phone is unreal. And well done,great advice, if you are slowing for an obstruction on the road be it a deep pothole,animal or flood, get off the brakes before you hit it, you've more chance of riding over it and keeping your balance.👍
Useful discussion on a very relevant topic with the current state of the roads. With regard councils spending money on limit changes and leaving the roads in a poor state of repair, I had this discussion in e-mail with Canterbury City Council, it boils down to money, the limit changes are funded by Westminster, the potholes are down to the Local Authority.
PS on a motorway I've seen MASSIVE pieces of tarmac missing ,plus pot holes . if it had been 40 years ago it would make the headlines ,,also , whilst I'm ranting , what would happen if I dug a pothole on a busy road with a sign admitting I had dug it ,my name etc , would I be prosecuted for creating a dangerous hazard ? which begs the question ,why aren't councils liable ,surely they have a duty of care , what's next , stop gritting in winter?
Good sound safe advice about pulling further back. Further back than the minimum 2 second rule as the more distance that you can give to the vehicle in front the more you can see of the road ahead and the earlier you can see it and therefore take earlier avoiding action without swerving. First by slowing and then by moving road positioning. ITs not just the government, the Highways Authority that is responsible for roads. Yes the major arterial roads, the motorways and dual carriageways should be kept in good order by The National Highways Authority but around town and on minor country roads its the local authority that is responsible. Each and every one of those authorities have a legal responsibility to keep you their public safe on our roads but unfortunately the would like or prefer to spend your monies on better newer Town Halls of offices or equipment or the arts etc.
At night and during rain you often can't see pot holes. I switched from an 11 inch wheel vespa to a 16 inch wheel Honda for this reason. If I can't avoid a hole, I transfer as much weight as I can onto my legs reducing the impact on my back. Not so easy on a scooter.
Daytime driving/riding is a lot easier to look ahead & avoid potholes on a wet road a bit more tricky as what looks like a puddle could be a pothole full of rainwater, but during the night it's almost impossible to avoid them again worse still when the roads are wet. I haven't ridden a bike in years due to the crappy roads we have plus the upsurge in vehicles on the roads these days.
It all brings us back to Ipsga Phil! 😊 Observation first, surroundings, road surface, weather, other vehicles ahead/ oncoming, road signs, etc. all factors determine the position, speed, gear & therefore manoeuvres that can be conducted safely for self & equally for others… 2 wrongs don’t make right…
I hit a pothole on a sharp bend a few days ago. I could not avoid it and there was an oncoming vehicle just ahead. My heart thumped hard a couple of times. No accident but scary.
Great video as always. Moving from a pedal cycle to a motorbike recently I find myself sometimes transferring my body weight from my seat to my legs to try to help absorb some impact from a rough road service. I wonder if this is helpful or could this destabilise the bike further……
Went for my first ride of 2024 a few weeks ago. Only minutes from the house I had to move to the centre of the road to avoid a car that pulled out in front of me. There was a deep and long pothole where the two sides of the carriageway meet, and I so very nearly dropped the bike. It's gonna be an interesting year.
The national road network is crumbling. I've never seen anything like it in 50 years of road use in this country. Having travelled widely internationally, I've observed that poor roads are a sure sign of dysfunctional governments. Having councils to blame is very convenient.
There should arguably be an offences of failing to adequately survey & maintain a public highway. I accept we can be deemed liable of pothole related riding offences depending on the circumstances. Ideally we scan up and down the road but closer view pothole scanning can arguably compromise this. I ride less when there is significant surface water as I am not a fan of playing roulette with potholes in puddles Thanks
Thanks PWR this was not on my radar. I enjoyed the lanes too. I ride the same ones often but got a bit lost in the editing at.one point I knew where I was then realised we were heading back past the zoo!! Love the East Kent rural routes stay safe bro
You should not have to spend 90% of your time looking for potholes they just shouldn’t be there, that’s the fault of local authorities, you make it sound very easy, but you can’t always know what hazard is around a corner then you hit a pothole because you was looking at other hazards that may happen, the real issue is there again blaming the driver/rider for there lack of maintenance we all pay to be on the roads and we should all be as safe as possible, without compromise!! So if anything we should be taking them to court because the roads are not fit for purpose
I'm always trying to find the balance between looking at the road surface and looking far ahead for the direction of the road. It is challenging when small patches of gravel (for example) cannot be seen until quite close.
Potholes are extremely dangerous to Motorcycles, if you don't see one and you hit one it can and will have you off your motorcycle, and could cause serious injuries or worse, as a motorcyclist you must report any potholes to the the local council or police, I was out at a bike meet a few years ago and the police were there just chatting and I mention about a pothole near me and what happened, 3 days later it was fill in, 40 years ago we didn't have much of a pothole problem, is it because they hardly ever do proper road reserving any more.
I agree the roads are in a terrible state. However, if you do collide with another vehicle in an effort to avoid a pothole, I also agree it would be careless driving. Same principle as not making unsafe manoeuvres to avoid hitting a squirrel etc.
After almost 50 years riding bikes I packed it in last year, for a couple of reasons but it was mostly the state of the roads, they are bad enough in the car but on two wheels you take your life in your hands with the potholes everywhere, and it's not like there's one or two in every half a mile, they are every few feet where it's almost impossible to avoid hitting one, a friend of mine had almost £700 worth of damage on his car caused by the potholes around here, it's utterly disgraceful the roads are in this state, vehicles by law have to pass an MOT and be in a legally fit state to drive, so why aren't the roads legally in a fit state to be driven on.
We all make mistakes. Last summer's ride. I was pretty close to off twice. My error's. Lack of care? Possibly or Probably. Crap road surface definitely. I was definitely going to fast, for a change of road surface a lot worse than I expected. I stayed upright but lost control of where I was going. I was braking pretty hard as I went over a deep trench onto loose gravel on washboard. My instinct was to hit it straight, stand up of the seat, Just keep the braking the same. Down shift, And look for the open space in front rather than at the oncoming vehicle (Which I came much closer to than comfortable). Think I just might have bottomed out the front telelever suspension of a GS. The 2nd time, much the same wet mud instead of gravel fortunately with no oncoming traffic. This time I just closed the throttle left the brakes alone. Tapped down. I was completely over on the wrong side of the when I regained control and stopped. Not a lot of point worrying about the Casiar, Klondike highway repair budget or the law if your dead. We all make errors. hopefully I learn from mine. Not sure if I did the right thing with the brakes or not. I will be taking the bike out the garage soon. First stop will be a parking lot where where I will practice a few things like braking and swerve to avoid. JIK.
I didnt crash and thats only down to the fact that i am a mature rider with over 40 years riding. A novice would have smashed both himself and the bike . I went back the next day and the pothole was 13 inches deep and around 2 ft wide. Right in the middle or the road.That hole didnt jus open it must have been there for weeks . I would ask all bikers and car drivers to report anything like this striaght away .Both to the councel and Poilce .
Now this is strange , in hampshire where i live the council stated that to avoid damage go around the potholes. Which i do as the roads here are like cart tracks. R
If you live in south of Essex, you’ll know well that Basildon council is famous for setting up drivers for failure when it comes to speed cameras. Now, the A13 at Basildon has become ‘wide and long nightmare for motorists like as if we are navigating rapid rivers of non stop potholes. Now. The A12 is just so smooth & perfect! Time to move over potholes? I’ll consider it.
Potholes…… another thing you have to look or for that you shouldn’t have to. Eyes should always be looking further ahead and behind. Councils making the road way too dangerous for bikers. I’ve got my mod 2 next month and really don’t want to have to look out for holes in the road as well as all the other things I have to be observing for.
Personally, if the road user can be held responsible for this then in my view the government/councils should be held liable for damage caused by poor road maintenance. Period.
Is this the same principle for drain covers? I know you are not supposed to go over wet drain covers but if you swerved round but there is oncoming traffic for example isn't that the same thing as the pothole, points on your license for driving without due care and attention? Would you not get a riding fault in your test for going over wet drain covers? Not very sure on this issue. Good video.
Thank you for your question and comments. So as a general rule avoiding wet drain covers is sensible if braking accelerating and cornering. I don’t get too excited about them if going ahead other. Yes you could get a fault on test if you go over them and your bike becomes unstable or unsafe, and that fault could be a serious one. As with prosecution, it’s a matter of circumstances and outcomes. Driving and riding is quite a skill that is often underrated and underestimated. I hope this helps
Lots of comments blaming the local authorities and while I mostly agree, I think that the problem is everyone driving around in fucking SUVs. Seemingly more than half the traffic on the road is an SUV with 1-2 occupants max, EVs being signiciantly heavier doesn't exactly help. A lot of people buy them (I ask quite frequently) do so because it makes them feel safer. Safer from other SUVS lol, it's an arms race. Give it another decade and it's gonna be Escalade and Hummer size vehicles as the standard. Councils should be doing a way better job for sure, but seems like they are fighting uphill on this one.
wow. You obviously hate SUV's. I pay my road tax like everyone else and yes I do drive an SUV but at the same time I hate the larger ones that just fit on our roads or parking spaces. The issue today is there is a total lack of respect on our roads, not enough police
Wheres the money going? They sould have more than enough to keep the roads in a safe condition. I suspect greed and corruption at play. Im a motorcyclist myself and have had a few to many scares for my comfort.
What a joke, bikers should be able to prosecute local councils for ever pothole not get prosecuted themselves. This is a ridiculous situation, they have a right to ensure roads are fit for use and they are poorly lacking on this point
They can't be prosecuted as it is a civil offence, but they can be sued for any damage that the pothole caused you. For that to be successful, you have to prove that they knew about it and that they had not taken any reasonable measures to address it, eg a warning sign.
If the populace has guns, they can hold their government accountable. If they have no guns, the government cannot be held accountable unless it has a bone to chew with itself.
The offences against S 3 RTA are not just about causing an accident, They are in any circumstances where due to your actions you cause another vehicle to slow or change position to avoid you. A circumstance like overtaking and then returning too soon to the inside lane thus cutting up the driver one has just overtaken. By your actions causing them to be in a dangerous tailgating position and having to slow to give you the safe stopping distance.
I saw a video the other day when a car in a line of cars coming towards the camera car . It then obviously braked heavily behind another car and it then swerved to its offside and collided with the oncoming camera car. That car that swerved was far too close to the car in front and obviously didn't see the pothole until it was too late. The only thing the driver could do in order to avoid hitting the pothole was to brake hard and as that was not working he then had to swerve to his offside, colliding with another car head on which could have caused the loss of lives. Tailgating like this can costs lives GIVE SAFE SPACE all the time. Simplesssss.,
Heyup , I get so annoyed that I'm looking at the road surface instead being able to look ahead , also a pothole isn't the same as other hazards as it can be a lot harder to see than a cat ,dog, pedestrian. I constantly dodge potholes on bike and in car (car has had 4 front springs ) ,, sadly the roads in Lancashire will never be brought back to a good standard .
If you are a tax paying road user and hit a pothole then a claim against the government for failing to keep you safe on a well maintained infrastructure which they own must be the only recourse, not prosecuting the now "offending" road user. This country is falling to bits and no one cares.
I really don’t understand why they don’t use more suitable materials for the roads. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but you don’t get potholes on the motorway! Must be using a superior mix / materials.
Interesting subject. Unavoidable standing water always exacerbates things - is there a pothole there and how deep is it? However, I fully understand why someone may be prosecuted. Too many people don't pay attention to the conditions and have little situational awareness nowadays. Ride safe 😊
I believe Britain's road infrastructure has reached a tipping point. I travel regularly across three counties, and into 2 cities. Everywhere, as we know, the roads are deteriorating rapidly. But look - carefully - and ask yourself: where should the local authority begin to repair? The answer is: everywhere. And that is unachievable. And wherever they start, they roads not repaired deteriorate even faster. This is a problem without a real world solution.
Are the council then responsible if the pot holes force your car off course and causes a crash. There are several areas around me where the surface has become so bad it forces any vehicle off course. Been like it for months and the council don't care. I would argue avoiding pot holes means your paying more attention and if someone panics from that and they crash cause they are oblivious and cant think for themselves then that is their fault
Government is never responsible for the actions of government. Only the civilians can be guilty. In the US, some federal legal rulings have actually been made that government cannot be held accountable, because they literally could not afford to pay for damages to the civilians. If they can't afford it, they can't be held responsible
Many of the potholes you can't see until you are right on top of them, if it's safe to do so then yet I swerve around them, if the government and councils actually used the road tax money to repair the roads we wouldn't have this issue. Some of the holes are massive and can cause significant damage to vehicles which in turn could cause a crash or injury. I have front and rear cameras which can be used for evidence if need be There is also a significant amount of bad driving now on our roads thanks to the lack of police, our justice system is also broken with the lack of proper punishments and fines
The last time l rode a motorcycle to any great degree was in the late seventies, early eighties. Sure there was the odd pothole and manhole covers strategically placed on the line a motorcycle would normally take on a bend.. 'But' it wasn't the big talking point that it has now become....as for getting prosecuted for saving yourself and your Bikes wheels/suspension... the law really is an ass!...Fortunately for me l now live and ride in Spain where the roads are far superior and better maintained ...Its also a far more motorcycle friendly Country....
The sooner we all remove our number plate and stop complying with this authoritarian state the better. The reason they are reducing the speed limits is because the legal responsibilities and standards are lesser on slower roads, so a pot hole on a 60mph A road would need fixing long before the same road with a 40mph limit etc etc, it is basically the councils cheating their way out of responsibilities, nothing more , nothing less.
Yet another 'you could be prosecuted' but realistically never will be. I will hapilly show the copper my ruined alloy or hundreds of pounds of new tyres from the council's shoddy repairs over the past few years. It costs me £150 a tyre.
Simple, drive/ride according to conditions, poor road state go slower give yourself time to avoid pot holes and other vehicles. The poor state of our roads leaves no other choice.
