Pothole Peril - Cars and Potholes.

HAS YOUR CAR BEEN DAMAGED BY A POTHOLE?

Trying to avoid a road full of potholes seems tougher these days. Thanks to the brutal winter and the continuous freeze-thaw pressures, tired tarmac has been cracking up and more gaping holes have appeared. This has led to often comically poor driving conditions. Have you had any car damage due to pot holes?

Up until recently for example, if you found yourself driving down Priory Road in Hull, East Yorkshire, you would have experienced the joy of trying to avoid 319 potholes in a 400-yard stretch of the street. While that rotten road has now been resurfaced, it reflects a huge problem with the state of our roads.

HAS YOUR CAR BEEN DAMAGED BY A POTHOLE?

Of Britain's 246,000 miles of roads (not including A-roads or motorways), it is estimated that there are an astonishing 1.6 million potholes that could cause pricy damage to your car and it looks like things aren't about to get any better either.

Road-reparier, the Asphalt Industry Alliance, claim that to repair each and every pothole, it would take over 15 years and £10 billion.

It's grim picture but is there anything you can do to stave off potential large bills inflicted by driving over a particularly nasty pothole? The first tip is to slow down before hitting one - but to make sure your foot is off the brake as you go over it; cars can nose dive under braking therefore putting even more pressure on a front wheel as it enters the pothole. Some folk think that going faster over a pothole will reduce the impact to the car but doing this could actually cause more damage.

Always make sure you keep both hands firmly on the wheel as you go over a pothole - colliding with one can pull the steering wheel from a loosely placed hand and put your wheel alignment out of whack to boot. Remember as well to watch out for puddles in the road - they may look innocuous enough but they could be concealing a car-crippling crater.

Finally, if you car is damaged, you can always go after the council responsible for the road - UK councils paid out a whopping £47 million in compensation last year alone. Bear in mind though that they are being flooded with claims at the moment and yours could take years to be resolved...

Adam Phillips, 18th March 2010