Though potholes are often to blame for many of the damages that you receive to your car, the NRMA has gone on the record to call out drivers for their use of the road damages as ‘scaepgoats’ for vehicle wear and tear.
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Two weeks ago the Mudgee Guardian asked the town to show us your worst potholes.
While there weren’t a large amount of photo submissions across social media or emailed to the Guardian journalists, many took to social media to comment on their poor or difficult roads.
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The Ulan-Wollar Road was also suggested as a problem for drivers that have to make the trip into town.
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Some commenters took to age-old pothole jokes to get the message across.
One particularly cheeky submission might just have hit the nail on the head at summarising the comments on the Mudgee Guardian’s Facebook page.
The NRMA’s Peter Khoury said there were multiple reasons behind depleting roads and regional areas were particularly vulnerable because councils were responsible for 80 per cent of their road networks.
“It really comes down to geography and traffic volumes, more than anything,” he said.
However, Tyrepower owner Dave Varian said potholes did not account for the majority of the business’s tyre repair jobs.
“A lot of it’s tradesmen’s screws, there are a lot of punctures from that,” he said.
“Eight or nine out of 10 punctures would be from screws on the road.”
Mr Varian said kerb collisions also accounted for several jobs, in addition to four-wheel drives with punctures from weekend off-road activities.
“There haven’t been as many potholes around like there were last year when it was really bad,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t realise how deep a pothole can be and they drive straight through it.”
He said in many cases, drivers did not realise they had done damage until days or even a month after an incident.
Mr Khoury said it was encouraging the state government had allocated $1 billion this year to help councils with their roads and it was up to councils to take advantage of the money.
Mr Varian said drivers could prevent damage to their tyres by keeping them at the right pressures, taking care on the road and regular wheel balances and alignments.
If you still have photos of your potholes in the Mid-Western region, send them to isaac.mcintyre@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
Isaac McIntyre
Got a story or a tip that you want to send through? Contact me at isaac.mcintyre@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Got a story or a tip that you want to send through? Contact me at isaac.mcintyre@fairfaxmedia.com.au
