Skip to main content

Pothole pique drives UK man into action

Potholes are the scourge of commuters and the source of hours of complaining around the office water cooler. But some people do more than complain; they take action that gets results, such as happened recently in the United Kingdom.
December 12, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Fertile ground for activists

Potholes are the scourge of commuters and the source of hours of complaining around the office water cooler. But some people do more than complain; they take action that gets results, such as happened recently in the United Kingdom.

He was dubbed the pothole vigilante, a 72-year-old man who decided one morning to fill one particular pothole he called “The Crater” after 17 months of complaining to the council.

That first pothole job took Reg Winsor 15 minutes to repair using a friend's tarmac and tools, according to %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal a report by the BBC Visit BBC Website false http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-30412435 false false%>. He reportedly said the hole was so big that a handrail should be put around it to stop people falling into it.

He went on to fill 50 more potholes and the council eventually offered him some training and a job.

"There is no money to do it, so what we are meant to do, sit on our backsides and do nothing? We are British and most of us Brits want to do something about it," he said.

The BBC reported that Devon County Council has a pothole repair backlog of around US$1.2 billion (£758 million) and it spends $1.57 billion (£1 billion) every year maintaining nearly 13,000km of roads.

In Russia, the news outlet %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Al Jazeera Watch Youtube Clip here false http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQoeBUKZQBg false false%> reported that angry commuters decided to embarrass their local officials into action. Some have been planting potatoes in Potholes to see if the spuds will grow quicker than the time it takes the local authority to send out a repair team. In another city, activists are naming and shaming local politicians by painting facial caricatures of the mayor and council members around the hole with the hole as the face’s mouth.

But another Russian man has gone down the smartphone route and developed the pothole app. A person takes a picture of the offending hole and loads it onto a website that names and shames the local authority and leaders.

All three efforts in Russia have made councils move faster on repairs, Al Jazeera reported.

Related Content

  • VIDEO: Good car winter maintenance is snow joke
    January 27, 2016
    Even conscientious professional people can get caught out by severe winter weather, as this video from Canada shows. We at World Highways hope that all our valued readers in the globe’s chillier regions have taken the time this season to ensure their safety by winterising their vehicles. It’s important to get it right. So the staff at World Highways would like to recommend that readers click here to take a quick look at some of the best - and worst - tips for winterising their personal vehicle. Fo
  • New visual identity for Atlas Copco’s Dynapac road construction equipment
    January 6, 2017
    Atlas Copco Road Construction Equipment has decided to align the visual identity of its Dynapac range of rollers and pavers to the design used by the other divisions in the Atlas Copco Construction Technique business area. Launched at bauma, the new Atlas Copco logotype is clearly visible on the products together with the Dynapac name. The colour scheme changes to yellow and grey, which is already used for construction tools, portable compressors and generators.
  • New visual identity for Atlas Copco’s Dynapac road construction equipment
    April 19, 2013
    Atlas Copco Road Construction Equipment has decided to align the visual identity of its Dynapac range of rollers and pavers to the design used by the other divisions in the Atlas Copco Construction Technique business area. Launched at bauma, the new Atlas Copco logotype is clearly visible on the products together with the Dynapac name. The colour scheme changes to yellow and grey, which is already used for construction tools, portable compressors and generators.
  • Cap Minerals shows EmiControls V12 dust controller
    January 6, 2017
    Distributor Cap Minerals is showing the latest model of the V12 dust controller, whose manufacturer is EmiControls by TechnoAlpin. Applications include working with primary crushers and stockpiles as well as in construction and demolition. The machine can be put on wheels or even mounted on a tower. The V12 sends out a fine water spray to keep the dust down and it can control dust across a distance of up to 50m, said Cap Minerals. The high-performance fan oscillates vertically and horizontally for optimum c