Friday 11 January 2008

Gone to pot

Friends who live in Redbridge and Haringey tell me they always know when they are entering Waltham Forest by the change in the road surface. It goes from smooth to lunar.

There’s been nothing about this in the local press but my impression is that the Council is making efficiency savings by massively neglecting the upkeep of local roads. There must be literally hundreds of potholes all over the Borough. Here are a couple of examples. The first is Livingstone Road E17, the second is Gainsford Road E17.

Look carefully and you’ll see that as these potholes get worse a spray of gravel is scattered across the carriageway surface. Anyone who brakes sharply on a surface like this, whether a cyclist, a motorcyclist or the driver of a motor vehicle, is likely to go into a skid. Which, in some circumstances, could result in serious injury or worse. No local authority should be neglecting its roads in this way.