Garth Rattray | Perilous potholes are everywhere

Yet another gruesome set of photographs depicting the horrendous death of a driver because of a crash has gone ‘viral’. Like too many others, this deadly crash was totally preventable. It occurred because someone swerved to avoid a pothole.

Brilliant students and future leaders have been lost to potholes. Babies, children and the elderly have been victims of potholes. Fathers, mothers and schoolchildren have all been eliminated by potholes. Despite the many lives lost, potholes are allowed to remain in our roads and stalk the lives of anyone who travels near them.

Aside from the injuries, deaths, suffering and grief that they unleash upon our citizens, there is the heavy national economic burden to repair the vehicles and replace the parts that they destroy. I lost a tyre and rim while driving down Norbrook Drive (of all places) in St Andrew several years ago. I did not see the deep and sharp-edged pothole waiting in ambush. I felt and heard a massive slam, followed by loud hissing.

I pulled over, stopped and got out to find my left front tyre flat and the rim bent. There is no one to claim on, nowhere to complain to, and no report to file. I don’t know how many other victims that pothole has claimed. I had to replace all the rims of that particular car and substitute them with more rugged aftermarket rims.

Because of potholes, I’ve also had to replace suspension parts with hardier brands in order to save money over the long run. In fact, some retailers of high-end vehicles request special, more expensive suspensions for our Jamaican roads.

Mindful of potholes

Although I’m very mindful of potholes, a few weeks ago, I was returning from YS Falls with visiting family members. While driving through Porus, I heard the wailing siren of an approaching police vehicle closing behind me. I took my eyes off the road, only for a second, in order to see how near the police service vehicle was. Then, out of nowhere, “BAMMM!” The jolt felt as if it was going to split the car in two.

For the rest of the journey, I was aware of a noticeable and very annoying shimmy. Soon, one of the affected wheels went flat, and that bent rim was to blame. In the end, I had to repair two rims ($14,000). One of the fellows at the repair shop asked how it happened. After telling him where I hit the pothole, he remarked, “Dat deh pothole waah fix lang time … .”

Deadly potholes don’t start out that way. The people who are supposed to protect us allow them to grow deeper and bigger until they damage our vehicles, perhaps harm us, and sometimes kill us.

And we have no recourse; that doesn’t sound right to me. To add insult to injury, there’s this practice of squaring off potholes and fashioning them in preparation for repair. But that new and bigger monster is always deeper than the original and endowed with sharp, tyre-busting, rim-smashing, suspension-destroying edges. The squaring-off should be done immediately before the repair, but, inanely and insanely, potholes are often left in that dangerous state for weeks and inflict unspeakable damage before they are filled. Go figure.

The relevant agencies are supposed to have people assigned to scout for potholes and set the repair process into action. Obviously, that’s not happening with alacrity. And even when a pothole is reported, the process for repair seems to take as long as it does for an elephant to complete gestation – or longer. However, I’ve noticed that once a pothole takes a life, or several lives, the repair process finds its way through some cosmic wormhole and voilà, it’s fixed overnight!

I have always wondered why the powers that be don’t ask patrolling police to report potholes. After all, the police are de facto safety officers. Once reports are logged into the system, there should be a reply, with an estimated repair date, within a few working days. If other police officers keep logging in the same pothole(s), that should trigger a fast-track system.

Dangerous potholes (adjudged so by location and/or physical appearance) should also be fast-tracked. That seems simple enough to me. Why isn’t that being done? Aren’t we worth the effort?

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.