Motorists fight for compensation over tyres, wheels damaged by potholes
Mornington Peninsula motorists are fighting back after potholes left local roads “un-drivable”. Here’s how.
South East
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A staggering 300 potholes were reported by Mornington Peninsula motorists in just two days as frustrated locals demand greater compensation for damaged tyres and wheels.
The shocking number of reports made between September 7 and 9 was sparked by Mornington Peninsula council’s campaign to encourage people to use an improved website to log a complaint.
The campaign followed the launch of petition calling on the state government to fix Mornington Peninsula roads which were “in a dangerous condition and unfit for purpose”.
Local Louise Page created the petition after her mother was left with a $1560 repair bill after hitting a large pothole on Graydens Road, Hastings.
“The roads have deteriorated so much in the past few years that drivers are often damaging their cars and putting themselves and others at risk,” Ms Page said.
“That pothole wasn’t fixed quickly enough and was hard to see until you were right on top of it.”
The petition calls for change to the Road Management Act so motorists can pursue and prove negligence.
“The way the act is designed at the moment makes it very difficult for people to be compensated,” Ms Page said.
“The threshold for claims is $1460 which means you can only claim the amount beyond that which leaves the motorist picking up the lion’s share of the bill.”
The threshold applies to roads managed by the state and local governments.
It has remained at $1460 since 2019 and there is no mechanism in the legislation for the threshold amount to be challenged.
The petition closes on September 19 and will then be presented to the Legislative Assembly.
To date 594 have signed the petition and hundreds more have flooded social media with warnings about local potholes and complaints about the lack of action.
“Why do our cars have to be road worth but the roads are not car worthy?” one man posted.
“So many of our roads are un-drivable,” another said.
Mornington Peninsula Shire said it had fixed 1000 potholes on local roads in August alone after a wet winter led to 30 per cent more potholes than usual.
Repairs could not be done during extreme wet weather and the council had also struggled with staff shortages.
However, it has since increased its work force and now has four dedicated patching crews supported by an asphalt repair crew to fix roads faster.
Mayor Anthony Marsh urged residents to continue alerting the council to potholes.
“We know this is a big issue for the community, and we want to help,” he said.
“Please bookmark our Report It web page and visit our website to learn more about this issue. “And please, take care on the road.”
The council would not reveal how many residents had lodged compensation claims for damage caused by potholes, nor how much had been paid out this year.
