"I’m a driving instructor specialising in potholes - here's one way to avoid them" - video Dailymotion

NottinghamWorld

Paul Whitburn, 58, runs “pothole avoidance lessons” for his students after becoming alarmed at the state of the roads around his driving school near Nottingham.

Transcript

00:00Okay Hope, anything particular you want to cover on today's lesson?

00:07Potholes.

00:08Potholes, okay.

00:09What are potholes?

00:10Well they come in pretty dangerous.

00:11So if you hit them and you hit them the wrong way, especially if I'm on my own.

00:16Yeah, you're worried about breaking down by yourself.

00:19That's a concern isn't it?

00:21Okay, so a pothole is where the road surface has started to break down, whether it be through

00:27wear of the traffic or just poor repairs.

00:31How do you recognise a pothole from a distance?

00:34Different colours in the road.

00:36Yeah, it's going to be darker isn't it in general, it's just the shade in there.

00:40If we are going to move around a pothole, it's like at any other hazard, what do you do first?

00:44Mirrors.

00:45Yeah, you see what's going on around us.

00:47Really, really, really important to make sure it's safe.

00:49So we're going to go and look at lots of different potholes or situations where we might see a poor road surface.

00:54And I want you to tell me what your plan's going to be once you see them.

00:58So when you see a pothole, whether you're going to go around it or so,

01:01or whether it's just okay to drive straight through as you are, if you're comfortable with that.

01:05And that's how we tend to deal with in general day-to-day driving.

01:09Does that help you?

01:10Yeah.

01:11Okay, let's go and have a go at doing that.

01:20I don't have a approach, there you go.

01:22Just that moment when you turn in is a pothole for a distraction, isn't it?

01:27Yeah.

01:28People often think at that point they've hit the kerb because of the bump, bump.

01:32You should know where the position you're carrying so you know what you're going to do.

01:35Yeah.

01:36But it's a constant concern with new drivers that, oh, I've hit the kerb, I've hit the kerb.

01:39Yeah, it's a pothole.

01:40So, coming down the road here, you can see the changes of colour of the surface.

01:49So, what that is indicates some differences in the type of living room.

01:53You can feel that.

01:54It's quite rough, isn't it?

01:55Yeah.

01:56So, that's going to affect the stability of the car.

01:58So, the car's going to shake around, you're going to feel more comfortable.

02:01And it obviously makes a lot more noise, doesn't it?

02:06This is a heavier pothole, but they aren't too deep.

02:11So, it shouldn't affect the safety of the car, but it might affect the way you control it.

02:16So, you need to just increase your grip on the steering wheel a little bit.

02:21Look for the line of the least resistance.

02:25You often get on a really heavy pothole bit of road, you can't see two tracks where everybody's gone to avoid the holes.

02:31We're not going to get rid of potholes.

02:33Potholes are always going to be here to know how much of the roads are improved.

02:36They will always reach them from the pothole.

02:39It's how you deal with it is important.

02:41Think about the other drivers around you.

02:43So, particularly vulnerable road users, cyclists, scooters, etc.

02:48They don't want to go through it because they can very easily most of the tyres.

02:51All the scooters will fall off on the road.

02:53So, how they're going to react to it.

02:55And also, looking for where they're looking.

03:00They probably won't look, they'll just move around it.

03:02They often do.

03:04They just see the danger, they don't look at the bigger picture again.

03:07So, we've got to anticipate that.

03:08And we'll just think of their space for them.

03:11Yeah.

03:12So, do we drive for the pothole or do you drive around the pothole?

03:16If it's safe to do so, I'll drive around it, but no, I won't.

03:20How would you check it's safe?

03:23If these are the road users around, I wouldn't.

03:28I think they can become unpredictable.

03:31Yeah.

03:32So, if you can't go around the pothole, what would you do?

03:37I'd just carry on.

03:39Would you consider slowing down?

03:40Yes.

03:41Yeah.

03:42Obviously, be aware the car's going to shake around a little bit.

03:44So, that might affect control as well.

03:46Just being very careful.

03:48So, you can see, looking ahead round the road, you can see that the road service starts changing the texture and colour, doesn't it?

03:55Yeah.

03:56Indicates that's going to happen.

03:58So, the road service is laid in the potholes.

04:01You've straddled that one there naturally.

04:04Here, you can see they almost cover the whole width of the road, don't they?

04:07Yeah, there's no void in there.

04:09So, you've brought the speed down to about 30 miles per hour and the maximum speed that we rode them.

04:14That's probably acceptable.

04:16It's very poor, isn't it?

04:18Yeah.

04:19Yeah.

04:20If it's a very severe pothole, slow down and try and get around as if you can.

04:26The darker it is, the more likely it is to be, because it's in shade, the more likely the deeper it's going to be.

04:33And also, there's little bits of stone could be thrown up in the ventricles, glass on the car.

04:48You said there's coolers in the road.

04:50No.

04:51There's just a lot of potholes and so is it poor.

04:54So, you're naturally slowing down there, aren't you?

04:56Yeah.

04:57So, if you're slow down, beware what's behind you, something might not overtake you.

05:01There's nothing behind it.

05:03Yeah, nothing behind it.

05:04Just think about how you're going to deal with that.

05:06It does affect the stability of the car.

05:08These aren't that sharp, so they're unlikely to damage the car.

05:12But this is very, very, very good.

05:15This is really bad, isn't it?

05:17Yeah.

05:18You've actually jumped looking down there.

05:19That was quite a shock whenever you avoided that one.

05:22It's fine to avoid them, but you must check it clear around you before doing so.

05:25Yeah.

05:26And also, how do other people react when they see a pothole?

05:29You're going to drive the road quite extensively.

05:32This bit was really bad, but because you've got a reservation in the middle of the road,

05:39it tends to concentrate people into the same place.

05:42Let's go left at the traffic lights and go round to do that once more.

05:46Okay?

"I’m a driving instructor specialising in potholes - here's one way to avoid them"

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