We are about a month away from spring this year, it would appear. In Western Canada, an unseasonably warm winter means, to date at least, there isn’t a lot of snow to melt. Unfortunately, milder temperatures with more freeze-thaw cycles mean that pothole season will arrive earlier and make them larger and more severe.
In my jurisdiction, there is a massive deficit when it comes to infrastructure investment, which usually means that the local government spends most of our short summer attempting to repair the roadways. While over the years, road repair and engineering have advanced, you would probably never know that based on the roads in my jurisdiction.
Last year I hit a severe pothole with my car, and the total damage was $2300.00. Local government is almost impossible to sue, so effectively although insurance costs in this province are exceedingly high, you’re not covered under insurance. Road maintenance is the responsibility of the jurisdiction having authority. The problem is that there are many avenues (no pun intended) for municipal governments to not claim they are responsible.
The burden of proof in a claim falls upon the plaintiff and it is very hard to prove that the jurisdiction is responsible because of several factors. First, if a pothole suddenly occurs and you hit it, the jurisdiction will not be responsible. They will claim they had no knowledge and can’t be expected to be clairvoyant when one suddenly appears. Secondly, if they know, and then attempt to fix the pothole, they are not responsible if the temporary patch fails. Thirdly, if you hit a pothole and had reasonable knowledge that the pothole existed, as in you drive the same route every day, then the jurisdiction is not liable, so you should have known to avoid the pothole or take another route.
Even when all of these conditions are met, and you do not know, plus the pothole has existed for a substantive period, you may still be apportioned partial blame, which means you’ll still have to pay a portion of the repair and deductible. For example, if you ride a motorcycle and don’t wait sufficient time for the roads to be cleaned or potholes repaired and you hit one with your motorcycle, losing control or damaging your bike, it will likely be considered negligence that you did not wait the appropriate length of time to allow the municipality to clean the roads and repair the potholes.
So is there an answer? Well, that’s an unequivocal maybe. The UK has created what will be known as the Pothole Partnership. It is an 11-year plan designed to stop the practice of temporary road repairs for potholes, instead using permanent repairs along with better inspection standards. The image that follows identifies the goals of the program:
Admittedly, some riders are their own biggest enemy. Today, there was an accident in my jurisdiction that created injuries and a lot of expense for the bike’s owner, who will be covered by insurance. In his case, he was riding in predictably bad conditions, where his accident was his fault. It makes no sense to be riding your bike when it’s snowing and the ice/rain falling is freezing in contact with the road surface. His Harley probably incurred a few grand in damages as it was completely on its side.
In my city, in the first ten days of repairs last year, the city claimed to have patched 30,000 potholes. The problem was that the temporary patches probably fell out less than eight hours after repair, so this was an exercise in futility.
IAM Roadsmart in the UK, had the following to say in relation to the new program.
“The situation is becoming ever more acute for motorcyclists and the issue is a top-ranking concern among riders. Potholes and other road surface-related defects are already shown to be extremely dangerous for motorcycle riders. The same pothole that damages a car, could prove fatal to a rider. The pothole hazard is heightened if potholes fill with water in poor weather, or they are encountered at night. Action is needed now to urgently clear the backlog of repairs. The NMC or National Motorcyclists Council fully supports the Pothole Partnership and urges the government to front-load the 8.3 billion lbs that have been announced. The problem is now, not in seven-or-nine-years-time.”
In Canada, but particularly in my province of Manitoba, road infrastructure deficit is a huge problem. Combined with the ludicrous costs that motorcyclists have to pay to insure their bikes, it would seem that this province is intent on minimizing the number of motorcyclists that are on the road.
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