Why do the highways agency / local authorities in this country insist on the cheapest nastiest form of surface dressing by putting a thin smear of tar down on an already terrible road surface and then sprinkling tons of stone chips over it in the hope of it doing a good job? They have been doing some of my favorite roads recently and pretty much ruined them. My bike and car have lots of stone chips and tar spots on them now!!! And the roads are still full of stones as they have not been swept afterwards. How many accidents or near misses will this cause? We always hear about road safety and speeding etc. and then they go and do this to make the roads unsafe. We all pay a fortune in tax to keep bikes and cars on the road whether it be road tax, fuel duties or insurance premium tax so I thinks it’s about time we got our moneys worth and had decent roads to use. I would like to see a national campaign to ban this stupid practice but have no idea how to get the wheel in motion.
Totally agree...they'd done a long stretch like that on my way to newark last week & not only is it bad but you've got to contend with dicktards in vans etc that aren't their own & crappy scrap cars who don't give a sh#t blatting towards you showering you in the stuff!
They're was a campaign Epetition to ban surface dressing last year. Although tens of thousands signed it I think the outcome was that local authorities would just continue doing what was cheapest and not give a f**k about the safety of motorcyclists.
A section of my route home was done yesterday... in places the loose gravel was a couple of centimeters thick, and this on a winding and undulating road. It was like trying to ride along a sandy beach. I was in half a mind to put the hazards on, and crawl along at snails pace, it was that f*&%ing dangerous!!!
There was a road near us where they recently dug up a big stretch of it and replaced with lovely tarmac. Two months later they stripped the surface of the whole road, including the lovely new tarmac'd section, and covered it in crappy stones. Best waste of money I've seen in ages.
Also loose gravel around country roads near me ATM...Scares the hell out of me when it appears, right on your line, mid/exit-corner with the throttle rolling on...
They did this to a lane leading up to my house a few weeks ago, I assumed it was a temporary thing, as the 'skid risk' signs were all out, I expected them to come a finish the job the next day. But no, that was it, absolutely shite! Weeks later it is still dangerously covered in gravel down the middle.
Totally agree with what everyone says on here. Spent feck all on the roads and then build great build new council offices with concrete balls outside at £1,500 a pop.(Stafford) Then we have a budget where they promise to put the road tax up in 2017 with all of the money being spent on the roads from 2020. So what's happening for the previous three years?? Gets me a little ticked off, in case you hadn't noticed
They have done a couple of large stretches in Cambridge and surrounding areas, the sides and the middle a lethal!
Just as a side topic, when we had those stormy downpours last week it flash flooded stones & gravel onto a busy little road out of where I live it was lethal for bikes.Anyhow nxt day 3 road surface warning signs & a few cones appeared curtesy no doubt of several blokes in a highways van! ..A week later still no sign of the brush and shovel dept! Common sense says why wasnt it brushed up at the time but we know the answer to that dont we....and that just about sums up the lunacy that is our country these days!
This has ruined my riding for this month absolute arseholes. It's all over the southwest round my favourite roads. I would have thought that the council would come back and sweep the roads after a while but no sign of this happening at all. Wankers.
The French wouldn't put up with it, they'd but out in their vans sweeping up all the gravel and dumping it on the council's door step.
Here's another one, though not as dangerous...cut the bloody foliage back from the big signs at roundabouts/junctions etc. I went through 3 different counties last weekend and all of them had overgrown signs, some you could only see the last turn off.
Lazy,,,,, comes to mind. Been to France, Belguim, Germany and Holland for 8 day trip. Out of the 1250 miles if I say we done 300 miles of motorway, satnav took us up every small village, hills, mountains and the roads are so much better. Here I seem to ride looking at the tarmac for holes cracks or the dreaded gravel, grit they leave behind. I #ucking hate it, there's a few roads locally where I freeze when I see it as don't trust the front end grip level as the stones are covering the centre of the road, I know I shouldn't but nearly go straight on !!! Doh. Thought it was just me. Same tossers that repair pavements, pull up a broken slab throw some tarmac in place n wack it down with a shovel. Perfect, not.
There is a stretch of road in Chelmsford, which has just had all this stuff laid, on a lovely National section. Coming home today in the car and it was lethal, in the wet. Poor bastard Moped rider in front of me, was doing his best to stay upright, and it was iffy for me in the car. Nasty stuff. Will we ever stop sending billions abroad in European Aid and any other Aid that needs it, and look after our own shores for a change?? Umm....Survey Said........
I think if the road is reported as a possible accident site due to the surface and someone then goes down on it without them cleaning it all up after the report then they are liable for a claim.
Same shite every year in Aberdeenshire. Ruin roads and make them unsafe. Have had three replacement windscreens on my car in 4 years, can't go out on my pushbike without safety glasses and too many scary moments on motorbikes. Why do we put up with this crap?
