A few weeks ago I was contacted by a woman cyclist who spent two days in hospital with a fractured skull and broken collar bone after hitting a pothole on a local road in Stroud Green. She was an experienced cyclist and was wearing a helmet, but was knocked unconscious after hitting a pothole under the Parkland Walk bridge on Mount Pleasant Villas.
This story has made me re-double my efforts to make our local roads safer. Top of my list is of concerns is Inderwick Road, which is in a very steep and in a very poor state. It is part of the London’s cycle route network and cyclists are directed towards the road by signs and cycle maps. A large number of cyclist whizz down the steep road and I am worried that potholes could cause another serious accident.
The Council wont do a blanket inspection for potholes – but will only patch holes that are reported to them. Earlier this month I reported nine potholes on Inderwick Road, which have now been filled, but when I walked up the road today there were more potholes that had been missed or had been created since then. The road is covered in grit that has escaped from these holes – the Council say they have received 12 complaints about potholes in the last year and put in at least 16 pothole patches.
I’ve been lobbying Haringey to properly resurface Inderwick Road for years to make the road safer and stop these endless patching. I’ve demanded a meeting with a senior highways officer on Inderwick Road so I can put the case for sorting out the road (the pavements and lampposts need action too). This meeting is happening in two weeks.
July 8th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Thanks for highlighting this Richard. As a motorcyclist living on the road I am often at risk of slipping on the loose stone or getting stuck in a pothole as I try to park. There are a few white marks on the road at the moment, suggesting that these are on a council todo list somewhere, but, remarkably, there are still other gaping holes which have not been marked.
Do you know whether the inspection team is told only to mark holes that have specifically reported, or are they supposed to mark other potential hazardous holes also?
July 28th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Hi Richard,
Has the meeting gone ahead, and what was the outcome?
July 30th, 2010 at 12:08 am
Lise – it went ahead earlier this month. The potholes I had reported had been filled a few days earlier – but there were still more I was able to show them. They promised to fill in these holes but said the road could not be resurfaced this financial year. I pressed them very hard to make Inderwick road a top priority for next year and I just hope that they will remember the visit when it comes to setting the priorities next time. Until then I will continue to tell cyclists and motorcyclists to avoid the road.