Watch out for potholes
With the poor state of the roads, insurance companies are receiving more claims for pothole damage
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The road situation in many South African local councils is far from
perfect, and a main cause of much vehicle damage are potholes. In an innovative
project launched by Empowerment Gateway, Adopt-a-Pothole program is set to
alleviate a number of problems at once - it will provide employment for the
locally unemployed, improve the road infrastructure and reduce insurance
claims from residents for damage caused by road damage.
The Adopt-a-Pothole program is the answer to the government's needs
to assist in alleviating poverty and unemployment on the one hand, while still
dealing with improving road infrastructure on the other hand.
The government has repeatedly asked the business sector and civic
society to help solve these issues and the Empowerment Gateway organization has
been the first to answer the government's calls for assistance.
Empowerment Gateway aims get the private sector involved too, but
asking businesses to sponsor and become custodians of the project. The logic is
that proper local infrastructure is an essential part of one's every day life
and that on-going maintenance of roads reduces the level of insurance claims
against local authorities for road damage to vehicles.
The AA has reported that vehicle parts which are usually damaged by
bad road infrastructure are shock absorbers, axles, tyres and wheels. In
addition, if a driver is forced to break suddenly or make a jolt movement with
his car to avoid a pothole, this can result in other serious damage to both the
car and the driver or passengers.
Insurance companies confer that the state of South African roads in
some areas is dismal and there has been an increase in the number of insurance
claims for pothole damage recently.
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