The irony of copping vehicle damage due to a pothole is not lost on Ashburton councillor Stuart Wilson.
Ashburton councillor Stuart Wilson says recent vehicle damage has illustrated just how bad the district's roads are Photo: LDR/ Adam Burns
But the experienced elected official did not shy away from leveraging his misfortune to further illustrate the hazards that local motorists are contending with at last week's Ashburton District Council activity briefings meeting.
Wilson, who has previously put Ashburton's roading expenditure under scrutiny, revealed at the meeting that he had suffered vehicle damage on Barford Road, near Mayfield due to a pothole.
He later confirmed it was his wife who punctured a tyre when avoiding an oncoming car which had crossed the centreline a fortnight ago.
Local police have recently expressed concerns that motorists are crossing the centreline to avoid potholes along some of the district's dodgier roads, including the Mayfield and Staveley areas.
"Everyone drives on the wrong side of the road, coming down east on Barford Road, because there's huge potholes," Wilson said.
"Luckily it wasn't a rim, it was just a 20-inch tyre but you don't get them for nothing."
Wilson pressed the council's roading staff on the matter during an update last week.
"Are we getting on top of our pothole problems at all?," he asked roading manager Brian Fauth.
"It (vehicle damage) really brought it home to how bad our roads are… there seems to be huge discontent with our pothole repairs at the moment."
Fauth said crews were under way with repairs around the Mount Somers and Lauriston areas, which were hit hard by the May floods.
A boost in resource had occurred to tackle the roads with a total of six teams looking after the 2600km network.
"It's the most we've ever had," council infrastructure services group manager Neil McCann said.
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