This year is living up to its billing as the ‘year of the pothole’, according to the AA.
Following the very severe winter, secondary roads are in poor condition and cash-strapped local authorities are struggling to fix the potholes that are regularly appearing as spring goes on.
An AA survey of 7,000 motorists shows that 22.9 per cent report that since the start of 2010 they have hit a pothole severely enough to warrant a garage repair or a call out to the AA.
“Often a pothole just hits the car and gives the driver a major fright but does not actually do any damage. However there are plenty of cases where it is an expensive repair,” said Conor Faughnan, director of policy with AA Ireland.
In most cases the repair cost is modest — 24 per cent of the time it is less than €100 and could simply be a replacement tyre or a tracking re-alignment, and 45 percent of the time the repair costs less than €400.
However there are cases where substantial repairs are needed to systems like the ESC stability control system, track-rod replacement, or suspension damage. Then you can be talking big costs, in some cases more than €1,500.
“We had one person tell us that a broken front axle cost over €10,000 in the end, although damage that severe is very rare,” said Mr Faughnan. “And of course there is the possibility that a pothole could cause a serious accident. Mostly however it was replacement tyres, wheels, track rods and suspension damage.”
Motorists were asked whether they had reported the pothole to the local authority and if so what had been done about it. Twenty-four per cent reported the pothole, and in 17 per cent of cases it was repaired.
In other cases local authorities have at least been sympathetic to the driver, but nevertheless 57 per cent of drivers said that the local authority did nothing about it.
