Wet weather and an increase in potholes has meant vehicles pulled over on the side of the road with flat tyres has become a common sight.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Canberra Mobile Tyre Service was called out to 12 jobs on Tuesday night. They were so busy mechanics were unable to attend an additional six jobs.
Owner Warren White said that in his 62-years he has never seen Canberra roads in such bad condition.
"It doesn't matter where you go there's potholes," he said.
"We go down the South Coast, we've been to Jindabyne on the Monaro Highway, and down towards Goulburn. Just about every road we've covered in the last three weeks has potholes."
He has seen a massive increase in not only flat tyres but extensive tyre and rim damage.
"On Wednesday morning some cars were still sitting there. That brings up another problem too, because it actually makes it dangerous with people parking their car on the side of the road. The chance of an accident is really upgraded."
Sam Taylor, from Denman Prospect, was returning on Tuesday evening from Melbourne Cup festivities at Thoroughbred Park when his vehicle, driven by his partner, hit a pothole.
He had luck on his side earlier in the day and backed the winning horse, Gold Trip.
His good fortune soon took a turn with two flat tyres and a one-and-a-half hour wait for a tow truck.
The vehicle was one of three, pulled over after hitting the same pothole on Parkes Way at the time.
"You have to have a roadworthy car but it's not a car-worthy road," he said.
"It's a bit ridiculous at the moment. It's unsafe dodging potholes everywhere you go, it could lead to more accidents."
Brad Martin, from Holt, was pulled over behind Mr Taylor. Patiently waiting in the car, hazard lights flashing, he also needed a tow truck.
His commute time home from work had suddenly become considerably longer.
"Potholes are a really big problem at the moment, obviously, I've just hit this one," Mr Martin said.
"Drake-Brockman Drive is also really terrible at the moment. They keep patching the holes up and not really fixing it.
"The holes are getting patched every day. And then in less than 24 hours, it's back to the same problem with the same hole even deeper."
Five cars were spotted pulled over on the side of the road with flat tyres, near the Glenloch Interchange about 7pm.
Other people took to social media to complain about the problem. One of a few people to post to to Facebook's Canberra Notice Board Group said they had seen eight cars on Tugerranong Parkway with blown tyres. Another said they had seen 10 at one point.
Another replied, "That pothole was like 30cm deep. At least 20 cars blew their tyres because of it since yesterday. Drove past it several times a day and always see at least 4 cars with blown tyres there on the side of the road."
Others shared images of their flat tyres or damaged wheel rims.
READ MORE:
The number of complaints about potholes in ACT has risen sharply in recent years, with more road surface damage in years with higher rainfall.
Motorists whose vehicles have been damaged by potholes in the ACT had already shared in more than $43,000 of ACT government compensation pay outs as of September, already outstripping the number successful claims made last year.
The ACT government had paid out 50 pothole damage claims as of mid-September, up from 40 last year and 16 in 2020. The average claim is worth about $860.
The Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate's executive branch manager of city operations, Ken Marshall, said in August there were certain circumstances when motorists could make a claim to cover damage as a result of potholes on public roads.
"There are processes by which TCCS will consider those claims and, in some circumstances, some compensation will be paid. But those are, you know, subject to the specific details of each specific case," Mr Marshall told an estimates hearing in August.
The ACT government received 3028 pothole complaints through Access Canberra from January 1 until October 6 in 2021.
Canberrans can log a pothole and ask authorities to fix it at the ACT government's Fix My Street page. You can also check to see which potholes have already been logged in yuour suburb.
There were 2.3 times more complaints made in 2021 than the year before and over three times more than in 2019. In 2020, there were 1292 complaints made, compared to 91 in 2019.
There were more than two times as many potholes repaired in the 2020-21 financial year than the one before.
City Services Minister Chris Steel told the Legislative Assembly in November 2021 the average turnaround time from receiving a pothole complaint to fixing it was about 10 business days.
Additionally, an ACT government spokesperson said earlier this year authorities tried to fix "potholes of immediate safety concern" within 48 hours.
READ MORE:
Have you damaged your car in a pothole recently? Where are the worst ones that regularly need fixing? Let us know in the comments.
