Poor Road Markings

Matthew Greenfield
👍

Mon 3 Feb, 21:41

Regarding potholes, salvation is at hand...

BBC News: 'Self-healing' roads aim to solve pothole crisis

Mark Sulik
👍

Mon 3 Feb, 19:29

The longer they are ignored, the worse they get. 

Simon Hogg
👍 4

Fri 31 Jan, 17:11

Things wear out with use and more use makes things wear out faster.

Valerie Stewart
👍 3

Thu 23 Jan, 14:21

I used to do lots of work in South Africa (on the side of the angels).   Before the lifting of apartheid, the two official languages were English and Afrikaans, and all public services and announcements had to use both languages.   (Imagine what that did to the television service).   So all road markings were in both languages ... except that the Afrikaans for STOP is STOP.   

You got it - yes, it was written twice.   

Michael Flanagan
👍 2

Thu 23 Jan, 12:43

Maybe it's just luck.

But, getting doddery as I am, I almost always drive below the speed limit - constantly worried about the likelihood of the flashing in my rear view mirror I used to get when I was doing Stirling Moss drivealike rehearsals in 1990s London.

Seems that the dodderier I get, the less flashing I'm on the receiving end of these days round here. Maybe it's just Charlbury - or could I hire out my Father Christmas wig to Simon?

At £25 a year, all that white hair might discourage the flashers. Sounds like a bargain to me. Of course, I'd need the wig back during party season...

Simon J Harley
👍 4

Thu 23 Jan, 05:56

According to Tarmac, it costs £56.76 to repair a pothole as part of planned maintenance. £4 million, working on that figure would fix 70,472 potholes. Now, I have no idea if their figures are correct, but I would much rather have 70,472 less potholes on the road than 20mph speed limits, which would appear to be largely ignored given that when I drive at 20mph, there alway seems to be an aspiring Lewis Hamilton nudging my rear bumper.

I assume that there are figures available as to how much councils are paying out for vehicle repairs due to pothole damage, or is this done via insurance?

Malcolm Blackmore
👍 1

Wed 22 Jan, 17:42 (last edited on Thu 23 Jan, 15:21)

Liz - the 22% decrease in reported accidents is interesting.

Do the authorities have any further breakdown of numbers of injuries, what nature of injuries, what demographic of any injured (age, children, etc) and what vehicle types, what "cause" of incidents, and on what road "types"? etc etc 

Be interesting to see a finer-toothed analysis comb of the data gathered over such a relatively short time.

Liz Leffman
👍 3

Wed 22 Jan, 09:58

See the article, Simon. Transferring that £4 million a year into filling potholes would not show anything like the same benefit.  However, the money we spent on resurfacing the road between Charlbury and Woodstock last year, and on the road at Fiveways has made a real difference and we will be doing more of that next year, assuming the budget is agreed.  Regarding road markings, they are mainly done in the spring because the weather is a factor so you should see some improvements then.

Mark Sulik
👍

Wed 22 Jan, 09:23

But still drivers can’t see the risk and points of danger where previously marked , should this not have priority? Keeping safe ? 

Alex Michaels
👍 3

Tue 21 Jan, 23:19

Car manufacturers could help here by avoiding the 'fashionable' low profile (& often quite wide) tyres. Such tyres are very inflexible vertically, consequently the shock from hitting the pot hole is taken by the wheel & suspension. 

Simon J Harley
👍 6

Tue 21 Jan, 19:15

Liz, I’m all for safety and am pleased that the 20mph limits have had a positive result. I hope the insurance savings are big though, because the damage being caused to cars by pot holes must be massive. I personally know people who have recently ruined tyres, and alloy wheels and has cost them a significant amount of money to rectify. I also wonder what data is available for accidents caused either by driving through potholes, or swerving to avoid them? 

Liz Leffman
👍 10

Tue 21 Jan, 17:10

The 20 mph speed limit budget was £8 million over two years but we have underspent that in spite of massive uptake by towns and villages across the county.  Interestingly, the record of road accidents in areas that have 20mph speed limits was reported as 22% down last year, compared with a national reduction in accidents of 4%. As a result, people living in areas that have 20mph speed limits are beginning to see their insurance premiums reduce, according to confused.com this weekend

Mark Luntley
👍 9

Tue 21 Jan, 12:38 (last edited on Tue 21 Jan, 12:42)

Just to add to Liz's well-informed and measured comments. 

Local government has had its tax-base held down for many years, and the grant supporting general council expenditure has been dramatically reduced in real terms as well. 

The existing Treasury Budget report (p163) clearly shows this.  In 2025-6 total UK taxation will be about £1,229 billion, of which council tax makes up "just" £50 billion (4% of total UK tax receipts).

Councils have faced rising social care costs, partly driven by an aging population. Social care is a largely statutory service, which means councils end up cutting other budgets (including roads maintenance) to make ends meet.

Which is why Oxfordshire are looking for another £45 million in "savings" in the next financial year.

Local roads then get more potholed and people complain. 

Some of the road repairs might be considered "capital", but there are big calls on the UK £131 billion capital budget. It is being spent on Defence (£21 billion), Health (£13 billion), Science (£22bn) and Education (£7 billion).

Transport does get £21 billion next year - but that includes big ticket items like HS2. 

Fundamentally we are not spending enough locally or nationally on public services. Taxes are at historically high levels, but are lower than our European neighbours. Our economy has also been growing comparatively slowly since 2008 - and this further depresses tax receipts.

Which is a long way of saying I would not expect major changes in the state of roads in near future.     

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b9695fbd69e1861921c63/Autumn_Budget_2024_Accessible.pdf

Andrew Greenfield
👍 4

Tue 21 Jan, 09:39

Having brought up the subject of 20 mph limits Simon, I wonder how the courts act in some places where there are still very clear 30 mph roundels painted on road surfaces but 20 mph signs at the side of the roads, as is the case in Hailey Road Witney.

No doubt one or other takes legal precedence but it could be claimed as very confusing!

Simon J Harley
👍 8

Tue 21 Jan, 05:55

It would be interesting to know how much money has been spent on non essential road issues, such as 20mph speed limits, and it Witneys case, the installation of the ANPR cameras on the High Street. I’m not suggesting that these are not all good ideas, but surely the basics such as pot holes and road markings should have come first?

Liz Leffman
👍 4

Mon 20 Jan, 16:44 (last edited on Mon 20 Jan, 16:54)

You might find the article in this weekend's Sunday Times instructive:  

https://www.thetimes.com/article/2c0193bc-5c80-458d-9fbc-57a70e69868b

And specifically this point "...figures from the Asphalt Industry Alliance suggesting that more than half the local road network has 15 years or less of structural life remaining — and that £16.3 billion would be needed to tackle the backlog of repairs in England and Wales." 

ie:  ten times the £1.6 billion earmarked by the government for road repairs recently.

Mark Sulik
👍

Mon 20 Jan, 16:29

These still need to be replaced - dangerous, especially this time of year . 

Liz Leffman
👍 8

Sun 11 Dec 2022, 10:31 (last edited on Sun 11 Dec 2022, 10:33)

There is a cycle for road maintenance, but as the county council has to find around £45 million of savings in the forthcoming financial year, the regularity of that cycle will not be increased.  The road maintenance budget has been massively underfunded by government for at least the last 10 years.

Mark Sulik
👍 1

Sat 10 Dec 2022, 13:36

The lack of maintenance and upkeep of road markings, especially at junctions, it more evident- both in Charlbury and in West Oxfordshire in general . Is there a life cycle of replacement ? Guidance or recommendations. 

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