So what can you do about it? First off, get onto the council concerned if you know which one was the cause of the hazard. I did this and was told in a letter dated 1 September 1997 that there are two options for road crews, either sweep off the loose gravel or place warning signs of the danger. Well they kept the road relatively hazard free for a while but how quickly they forget and the same old problem arises where there are no signs and no attempt to sweep loose gravel from the roadway.

As you can see by the pictures I took, there is a problem of cars pushing loose gravel that was used to patch the side of the road into the middle of the road. I was fortunate the sun was shining making this corner visible as the loose gravel is just about impossible to see in the shadows and a photo would not be as detailed. Note how the gravel is in the middle between the wheel tracks. If you tipped your bike into this, later in the evening or earlier in the day when shadows were long, you would take a nice little slide and say shit or some other four letter word. If you in fact came off, say lost the front or rear and wrecked your bike and hopefully not yourself I wonder just how quickly signs would appear at the site. They would say signs were there all the time, no doubt.

Some years ago a car rolled on another road that was not sign posted for loose gravel. Signs appeared after the event. Does it take a major accident to alert the supervisors (if any) of road workers to the dangers of their actions and all too late for an innocent party or is it possible to ensure safety for road users by a combined effort to pressure councils to think about their actions. Rather than creating hazards one would think they should be eliminating them. You would think in this time of high technology that a better system of road patching would be possible but if not, all roadwork crews should have responsible personnel to either place signs or sweep. Is that too much to ask?

As you can see by the photos of this one corner, the road on the left is still rough after patching. The patching effort does not produce a smooth or long lasting surface as a rough surface such as this would no doubt be pounded by vehicles until it breaks up once again. Repeat work, repeat gravel. Surely these rough surfaces should be dug up and done properly leaving a smooth long lasting surface. The left wheel track left by cars is relatively clean but narrow and the right wheel track puts you close to the centre line where the oncoming traffic, cars again, usually cut the corner. If you look closely at the centre double lines you will notice a clean area on the double lines where cars have no doubt been using this area noting that gravel has spread further across the double lines to the southbound lane.

I don't know about you but I like to use the left to centre of the lane keeping clear of the centreline in case a wayward (one arm hanging outside the vehicle) driver encroaches on my side. If I used the right wheel track I would not be able to safely cross the centre of the lane due to gravel. To do so could possibly result in loss of control.

This corner gravel isn't the worst I have seen on this particular road but was an opportunity to show how cars shift the loose gravel left after patching onto the motorcycle line. It should all be swept well off the road or not put there in the first place. I even offered to sweep the road but my offer wasn't taken up. I would like to be able to inspire others to report dangerous roadworks to their council in their area. I will continue to take pictures of hazards when conditions allow (1) a good shot of the offending site (2) the danger to myself is minimal whilst taking those shots (3) the hazards continue to be created (4) I haven't dropped dead.

The film and developing obviously costs money and I wouldn't mind getting a real job out of this but I really wonder if Government funds would be available to help in this area although I don't believe the Government is really interested in road safety issues unless they rake in revenue but they could prove me wrong by supplying funds to help me prevent man made hazards. I imagine I could place small (read low cost) advertisements in local papers for persons concerned about a particular road left hazardous after repair (not during repair) where they could phone the location and the council concerned, if known, to me or, if possible, supply photos if it does not involve a hazard to themselves or others whilst taking photos.

I have always been concerned with safety issues and seem to be able to spot potential situations that are hazardous both when I worked in industry (lost a job by alerting authorities) and on the road. The use of the words road and safety in the same sentence seem a little silly and perhaps road hazard reduction could be used. The word accident implies that a situation is caused accidentally, not by careless actions causing injuries or death to an innocent party. A stronger word for this bloodsport should be adopted. What word should that be?

What else did I do? I wrote two letters to FORS and sent them the original photos, and they told me to get in touch with the RTA for further advice.

Linda designed this web page, despite having considerable skills, work has been impossible for her to find and she spends a lot of time in front of her computer.

UPDATE:  Wow!  Linda got part-time work after only 4 years waiting for a phone call!

UPDATE:  It only took 2 years to get through to council to keep this road clean. Pity about some other roads in the area.