With the unusually wet weather continuing in some parts of the country, so too are the pothole problems causing damage to many grey nomad vehicles.
In New South Wales, the NRMA says burst and flat tyres are rife across the state as pothole patch-ups are hampered by ongoing rain.
Spokesman Peter Khoury told the ABC that the number of call-outs for incidents related to potholes in New South Wales had almost doubled compared to this time last year.
“We are seeing a significant increase for people who have damaged their tyres or their wheels,” he said.
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According to the NRMA, the total number of call-outs in NSW for July and August last year was 14,441. That number jumped to 26,440 calls for the same period in 2022.
Mr Khoury told the ABC that the growing number of potholes was a ‘massive concern’ for the organisation.
“Drivers are being confronted with some really challenging conditions here,” he said. “We should be driving to the conditions, and if there’s water on the roads, you need to be prepared to drive into potholes that you can’t see.”
Mr Khoury said drivers should not make sudden decisions while driving.
“Please don’t veer dramatically in order to miss a pothole,” he said. “Because what we don’t want is a situation where someone jumps across lanes to do that.”
The NRMA said that local councils were responsible for the bulk of the road network, but the weather as not making it easy for them.
“We don’t want to see a situation where people are suing regional councils. It’s time-consuming and it’s costly,” Mr Khoury told the ABC. “The preference, of course, is councils get out there and fix the roads as fast as they can but, with the way the weather has been, it’s a great challenge councils are facing.”
For a start..ditch low profile tyres..they can’t handle severe bumps or holes.
Get food solid reinforced side walled tyres with deep tread..and don’t spare the $’s..!
We had an incident on road. Travelling around 2.30pm and shadows on road, hit a double pot hole on side of road. Did 2 wheels and tyres. Had to replace all 4 tyres as we couldn’t get same rims. None in Australia. But thanks to RACQ and Pomona mechanic… we’re back on the road. Council don’t want to know, but insurance we’re great.
Just drive more slowly. The sky won’t fall in if it take a few more minutes or hours or even days to get to where you are going.