POTHOLE BRITAIN

ARE UK ROADS DANGEROUS ?

YOU BET YOUR LIFE THEY ARE

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NO FORWARD PLANNING - Flexible tarmac roads typically last 30 years is well made, service tunnels should be incorporated on all new builds to prevent roads works that delay traffic. Service access conduits should run alongside all new roads (water, electricity, telecommunications, etc) to keep traffic moving efficiently. Planning ahead for servicing is sustainable planning. Most British roads were obsolete the moment they were built.

The picture above may look quaint but the road should have been wider with at least one service conduit running parallel. Roads like this in the country are the subject of constant works and repairs to subsidence. The road tax on 25,000,000 million registered vehicles even if only 50% is collected would be al least £1.25 billion pounds in revenue that should be spent on road building and management, granted that EVs are exempt, hence revenues will gradually reduce. There will have to be a sliding scale as EVs become more popular where they are charged to top up a road fund. Especially when electric or hybrid super trucks come online that create substantially more road wear.

And that is the problem, the Conservative Government appear to be betting with our lives. They have sold this country down the river with their policies of arming us to the teeth with nuclear submarines and nuclear powered aircraft carriers such as the Queen Elizabeth Class, that were obsolete the moment they were launched, but are putting our necks on the line (corporate manslaughter) by not living up to their promise to govern Britain effectively, as they make believe we still have an Empire. There is though a duty to provide an effective administration as set by case precedent, now backed up by Corporate Manslaughter statute.

Tourists will soon realise how dangerous it is to drive down a country A class road, let alone the B roads. You can watch drivers swerving all over the road to avoid damaging their wheels, tyres and suspension, almost colliding with a truck or car coming in the opposite direction. Vans are some of the worst to avoid if they are also taking evasive action. It is bound to end in tragedy.

Do the present administration care? It seems not. They are taxing us several times over on just about everything they can think of to raise money to pretend we still have an Empire, but still cannot repay our National Debt - in fact it is probably getting worse.

David Cameron was to blame as our last Prime Minister, but Theresa May is not doing any better. Indeed, you may have noticed just how many more potholes there are this year when compared to last.

HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE - This highway maintenance van just carried on driving past all of the potholes being photographed on this day. Are they instructed to repair roads or just drive around pretending to look busy.

LIFE THREATENING

Driving on British roads is like playing Russian Roulette. You literally take you life in your hands on each journey. Why? Because there are now so many potholed roads that any journey, no matter how short, will take you past at least a couple of potholes in dangerous positions.

CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER

Corporate manslaughter is a crime in several jurisdictions, including England and Wales and Hong Kong. It enables a corporation to be punished and censured for culpable conduct that leads to a person's death. This extends beyond any compensation that might be awarded in civil litigation or any criminal prosecution of an individual (including an employee or contractor). The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into effect in the UK on 6 April 2008.

Does a motor accident have to cause an actual death, or will a serious injury that could have caused death be sufficient. We think that in this case where management failure is clear, that the persistent non-performance of Conservative ministers could only lead to one conclusion, and that is an accident that is potentially fatal. Why? Because all accidents in cars on busy roads are potentially fatal. Given that the human frame is so frail, it is a miracle that more people are not killed on our roads. So, don't forget to wear your seat belt. Buckle up.

CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER AND CORPORATE HOMICIDE ACT 2007 - 2007 CHAPTER 19

Section 11 Application to Crown bodies

(1) An organisation that is a servant or agent of the Crown is not immune from prosecution under this Act for that reason.

(2) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) a department or other body listed in Schedule 1, or

(b) a corporation that is a servant or agent of the Crown,

is to be treated as owing whatever duties of care it would owe if it were a corporation that was not a servant or agent of the Crown.

(3) For the purposes of section 2—

(a) a person who is—

(i) employed by or under the Crown for the purposes of a department or other body listed in Schedule 1, or

(ii) employed by a person whose staff constitute a body listed in that Schedule,

is to be treated as employed by that department or body;

(b) any premises occupied for the purposes of—

(i) a department or other body listed in Schedule 1, or

(ii) a person whose staff constitute a body listed in that Schedule,

are to be treated as occupied by that department or body.

(4) For the purposes of sections 2 to 7 anything done purportedly by a department or other body listed in Schedule 1, although in law by the Crown or by the holder of a particular office, is to be treated as done by the department or other body itself.

(5) Subsections (3)(a)(i), (3)(b)(i) and (4) apply in relation to a Northern Ireland department as they apply in relation to a department or other body listed in Schedule 1.

CORPORATE MENS REA

further approach is to accept the legal fiction of corporate personality and to extend it to the possibility of a corporate mens rea, to be found in corporate practices and policies. This approach has been widely advocated in the U.S., as the corporate ethos standard and introduced in Australia in 1995.

MANAGEMENT FAILURE MODEL

This is the approach to be taken under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which came into force in the UK in April 2008. Where a corporation's activities cause a person's death and the failure was because of a breach that falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation in the circumstances, the offence is made out.

COUNCILS

Councils too are in the firing line. Any prosecution might include the local and national authorities as co-defendants. So, keep tabs on your area. Make a photographic record of including dates and write to your MP, copy to your local authority. Perhaps include the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive, and the County Council.

CRIME SCENE MANAGEMENT

In order to be able to prosecute the present Conservative Government on a charge of Corporate Manslaughter, an accident that causes death must be preserved carefully with measurements of tyre marks, potholes and witness statements taken from all of those in the proximity at that time, to include any reports of potholes in that area. In addition, camera footage (if there is any) should be secured. it might not be necessary to prove knowledge of any particular pothole, simply that it was the state of the roads that caused or contributed to the accident or death.

IS PATRICK A CRIMINAL IN THE MAKING - Patrick Allen McLoughlin (born 30 November 1957) is a British politician. He's been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1986, initially for West Derbyshire and since 2010 for its successor, the Derbyshire Dales constituency. At his age he should know that deep ruts and holes in our roads present a danger to life and limb - and of course to our vehicles. On 4 September 2012 he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport - a dark day for motorists as it turns out. A former miner, he is one of the few Conservative MPs to have been a manual worker before entering Parliament. We wonder if he should go back to mining, assuming of course that he was any good at it. Patently, he is not good at managing our roads. Ask any motorist.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a landmark in law in the UK. For the first time, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care.

LIFESPAN

Like all structures, roads deteriorate over time. Deterioration is primarily due to accumulated damage from vehicles, however environmental effects such as frost heaves, thermal cracking and oxidation often contribute. According to a series of experiments carried out in the late 1950s, called the AASHO Road Test, it was empirically determined that the effective damage done to the road is roughly proportional to the Fourth power of axle weight. A typical tractor-trailer weighing 80,000 pounds (36.287 t) with 8,000 pounds (3.629 t) on the steer axle and 36,000 pounds (16.329 t) on both of the tandem axle groups is expected to do 7,800 times more damage than a passenger vehicle with 2,000 pounds (0.907 t) on each axle. Potholes on roads are caused by rain damage and vehicle braking or related construction works.

WOW - This is a road looking south in Pevensey Bay, but part of a one-way slip road heading toward Bexhill and Hastings from Eastbourne. It is disgraceful. Tourist will travel along these coastal roads, lumping and bumping instead of enjoying a smooth summer holiday. They will tell everyone in Europe that not only are we Brexit Bonkers, but we cannot even afford a decent pair of shoes. Run down Britain is getting worse. More potholes by the dozen - but not to worry, we can afford to exit Europe and carry on building battleships as if there was a war on. Britannia no longer rules the waves of provides decent highways.

INSURANCE PREMIUMS

Who is paying out for all the damage to our cars and will our insurance premiums rise because of Conservative Party negligence. Will the Government pay the insurance costs of accidents caused by potholes. Surely, the Conservatives are the cause of the problem, hence should be joined in any action for negligence. If your car had no MOT you would not be insured. It follows that if the road you are using is not up to standard, that those responsible for the routine maintenance are vicariously liable. In the case of the pictures on this page that would be Eastbourne Borough Council, Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council - or whichever mix and match is applicable.

PEPPER ALLEY - You'd have a job to avoid any pedestrian who had tripped over one of these potholes, especially where this is a two lane road during the rush hour traffic. But what happens if your suspension collapses and causes your car to slew into the other lane or even mount the pavement.

WHERE ARE ALL OUR TAXES GOING

Have you noticed how much tax we pay? We pay income tax on our earnings. We pay VAT on the goods we buy. We pay road tax and tax on petrol. We pay car tax. We pay tax when we buy a house. We pay council tax, water and sewage rates. Some of us will pay death duties. We have to pay parking charges on the streets. It does not stop. We pay National Insurance contributions, another charge for a defective service.

Will we ever be charged for breathing and will there be a copulation tax on babies, perhaps based on the size of the father's member.

A country that charges so much for its citizens to live in is a country that is not being properly run. if the state of our roads is a reflection on the way our country is being run, then we need another Government. One that knows what it is doing and provides a value for money service for the people, rather than a system where the rich get richer from over-taxing the workers - and then has the cheek not to provide the basic services - such as roads that we can rely on to get us to work and back.

BBC DECEMBER 2014 - Patrick McLoughlin said: "Today I am setting out the biggest, boldest and most far-reaching roads programme for decades. It will dramatically improve our road network and unlock Britain’s economic potential.

Roads are key to our nation’s prosperity. For too long they have suffered from under-investment.

This government has a long term plan to secure the country’s future and this £15 billion roads programme is demonstration of that. Better roads allow us to travel freely, creating jobs and opportunities, benefiting hardworking families across the country."

VEHICLE TAXATION

Should we continue to be charged for having to drive on dangerous roads. Surely the Government are in a Breach of Contract position where our roads are no longer safe. As a driver you must have had a couple of close shaves when having to avoid potholes in your area. Have you damaged your car, scratched a wheel, broken a wheel trim, burst a tyre or damaged the tyre wall. Worse, have you damaged your suspension, or hit or been hit by another vehicle that was taking avoidance action.

If the Government responsible for ripping us off had any feelings of guilt for what they are doing, they would surely give us a rebate on last years contributions and not charge for this year or the next, until the roads are put back into a merchantable state.

BBC NEWS JUNE 2014 - Pothole fund of £168m allocated to councils in England

Details of where money set aside to fix potholes in England will be spent have been released by the government - with extra cash going to "model" councils.

Ministers say the £168m, split between 148 councils, will help to fix some three million potholes by March 2015.

All councils which applied for money will get a share, but extra has been given to those which "demonstrate best practice in highways maintenance".

But the Local Government Association said the sum was "a drop in the ocean".

The AA welcomed the funding but said more work on road surfaces was needed.

QUESTION FOR THE HOUSE - Can the Right Honourable gentleman tell the House where all the road fund money has gone? Order, order.

'Menace'

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "Potholes are the bane of all our lives and the funding announced today is an important step in ridding our roads of this menace.

"But it is only one part of a massive programme of investment to get our country up to speed as part of this government's long-term economic plan."

It costs an estimated £53 to fix every pothole, the Department for Transport said.

BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott said the money would "bring some relief to drivers", but added: "Councils have been saying for years that they need billions, not millions, to really fix our roads."

Councils in London will receive £10m of the latest funding - enough to fix an estimated 188,000 potholes - while £5.1m will go to North Yorkshire, with Cumbria to get £4.8m.

The money must be used to "repair potholes or to ensure that they do not appear in the first place" and councils must publish monthly updates on how many repairs have been carried out.

A "greater share" is being given to those which have "invested in new technology and initiatives".

These include Northamptonshire - which has "set up systems to track pothole repairs in real time" - and Hampshire - where new pothole fixing equipment can be converted to grit roads in icy weather.

The Department for Transport said the money, first announced in Chancellor George Osborne's Budget in March, was "part of the biggest investment in roads since the 1970s".

It said £24bn would be spent on England's strategic road network - meaning motorways and many A-roads maintained by the Highways Agency - from 2010-21.

Local councils are responsible for other roads, and the government said £7.4bn would be "committed to local roads in the next Parliament", along with money from other funds given to councils.

The latest pothole funding is separate from the £183m allocated to English councils in March to repair roads damaged by the winter's severe weather.

'Sticking plaster'

An LGA spokesman said: "While we welcome any extra funding, £168m is a drop in the ocean compared to the £12bn backlog in roads maintenance.

"Moreover, we are disappointed to see the government tie this funding to monthly reports on pothole repairs.

"Fixing potholes is a sticking plaster-approach which does nothing to address the fundamental decay of the underlying road infrastructure.

"What we need is a considered, long-term approach to road maintenance not annual announcements of emergency funding."

AA president Edmund King said: "Potholes in the UK have been a long-running scourge that has cost tens of thousands of car owners millions of pounds in repair bills, and councils millions in compensation claims.

"The new government money is very welcome but it will only be truly effective if roads are re-surfaced on time and not just patched up after each winter."

LINKS & REFERENCE

https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/corporate-manslaughter

POTHOLE POLITICS APPEARS TO BE PECULIAR TO THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY