The Premium Debate: Online subscribers react to questions over pothole payouts

A pothole in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / Alex Cairns

OPINION

Waka Kotahi paid out 22 compensation claims for vehicle damage from potholes and defects in state highways in the past three years.

That’s despite the transport agency receiving more than 2200 claims over a slightly longer period.

The AA says that seems “excessively low” and an automotive engineer who fought months for a payout and won in the Disputes Tribunal believes Waka Kotahi makes the process so difficult that many motorists just “give up”.

The Waka Kotahi data shows there were almost as many claims in the region in the first half of this year - 198 - than the combined total over the past three full years - 209 claims.

Read the full story: Pothole damage compensation: Waka Kotahi paying out on a fraction of claims

Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz or dailypost.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.

Fix the roads right the first time. Some of the repairs leave a lot to be questioned. - Maurice G

I wonder if the ruinous state of BOP roads is due to there being so many more heavier vehicles like utes and SUVs on the roads? I’d say around my area every third vehicle is one of these. All that weight, plus the big trucks, can’t be helping. - Heather A

Sorry guys, but you can’t expect Waka Kotahi to pick up the tab. It’s an individual’s responsibility to have insurance and hitting a pothole is “the rub of the green” (bad luck).

Instead of paying out money to the uninsured, redirect that money towards road maintenance. - Bruce C

In reply to Bruce C: Waka Kotahi has a responsibility to keep roads in safe, reasonable conditions - this has nothing to do with having insurance or not - Waka Kotahi is not doing its job, nor is it accountable for the neglected roads and the associated damage to cars. - Potter O

There are so many potholes around now and when they do get repaired they often come back soon after.

I have noticed that local roads that have been resurfaced are usually still uneven and of a low standard. - Ian U

Waka Kotahi should be fined for not fixing a reported pothole within three working days.

Here we all are abiding by drastically reduced speed limits on the “road to zero” while an epidemic of potholes puts people’s lives at risk on open roads.

How about renaming the policy “road to zero potholes” and put the funding used to add Māori language to road signs into saving vehicles and lives. Ideology to pragmatism? - Dan M

They shouldn’t be making any payments.

Again like property damage, individual insurance should be covering damage.

If somebody wants to have racing-type tyres on their car with short stubby side walls that cannot handle driving through potholes without getting damaged, that’s fine but don’t expect others to fork out for your tyre choices. - Roger C

- Republished comments may be edited at the editor’s discretion.

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