Car enthusiast, Marius Smit from Lorraine in Gqeberha is requesting answers from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality as to when the roads in the metro will be repaired after he spent over R12 000 to replace four of his tyres that had been damaged by various potholes in the span of one month.
Smit who has been driving for many years said that he has always been a careful driver and has had numerous advanced driving lessons.
Despite being an experienced driver, he said that the state of the roads throughout the metro has resulted in him being left with a bill of R12 800 after four of his tyres were damaged and his insurance company refused to pay for the repairs.
Smit said that the damage caused to his car, a luxury Fiat Abarth Tip which has been assembled by Ferrari Italy and is 1 of 12 in South Africa, has been very upsetting.
He said that from July to August, he has had a total of four incidents on various roads in Kariega, Despatch and Gqeberha.
Kruis River Road, Kariega
Smit said that on one occasion he scraped his car and damaged his tyre in Kruis River Road in Kariega when he drove over a pothole.
Perseverance Road, Despatch
Furthermore, since he travels on the Perseverance Road in Despatch at least once a week he said that on two separate occasions, he drove into a pothole which caused damage to two of his tyres.
“The state of Perseverance Road is so bad that I constantly have to swerve out to avoid hitting a pothole,” said Smit.
He said that while driving on Perseverance Road recently he was stopped by a traffic officer who questioned him on whether he was under the influence of alcohol since he had swerved multiple times on the road.
Smit said that he explained to the traffic officer that he had swerved to avoid hitting a pothole on the road.
“Thankfully the traffic officers are aware of the state of the road and allowed me to continue driving,” said Smit.
Pickering Street, Newton Park
During the most recent incident on August 3, he said that he hit a large pothole on Pickering Street, Newton Park which caused damage to his tyre despite driving 40km/h at the time.
Third Avenue Dip, Newton Park
In addition, Smit said that in July his wife, Elmarie, also experienced damage to two of her tyres on her car while driving through the Third Avenue Dip in Newton Park.
Smit said that he believes that the construction of speed bumps in the metro is a waste of money. Instead the money should be directed at fixing potholes.
“If potholes are repaired while they are still small this would prevent them from expanding,” said Smit.
As a car fanatic, he said that he would advise luxury car drivers to avoid travelling on the roads in the metro.
“I pay a yearly licence fee and I must ensure that my car is roadworthy to receive my licence disk on time to avoid penalties. I would like to know where this money goes to and why it cannot be used to repair potholes,” said Smit.
In addition to the countless potholes throughout the metro, he also noted with concern the sunken drain cover in Pine Road, Overbaakens which poses a major safety concern for motorists and pedestrians.
After multiple attempts to get feedback from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality from August 4, no comment was received at the time of going to print on August 16.
