Interesting article about potholes, and vehicle weight.

[Barry Cade]

The Netherlands seem to have some good ideas about road surfaces and how to preserve them. Porous Asphalt sounds interesting.

How the Netherlands eradicated the pothole

[D.E]

If they think our roads are "smooth" then I am a slightly concerned about the state of the British infrastructure...

Quote

Dutch drivers pay far more tax if they have a heavier car. The idea is to penalise those vehicles which most contribute to causing the potholes to help pay for the roads.

Partially true, it also depends heavily on the type of fuel.  For example, my 205 is 17 euros tax a month but it would have been four times as much for a diesel one.

[Barry Cade]

10 minutes ago, D.E said:

If they think our roads are "smooth" then I am a slightly concerned about the state of the British infrastructure...

Partially true, it also depends heavily on the type of fuel.  For example, my 205 is 17 euros tax a month but it would have been four times as much for a diesel one.

You've never driven in the UK? You're in for a treat....

[DSdriver]

I was impressed by the way on a road near Vlissingen Dutch services (water gas electricity) are in conduits under the sidewalk so there is no need to dig up the road whenever there is a fault. The conduits were covered by concrete slabs that could be lifted off to get access.

[Spiny Norman]

I don't know the ins and outs of the politics but I just have this impression that the Dutch have better government and councils than we do. We'd have no potholes either if the roads were maintained properly but in the UK the private motorist is seen simultaneously as a pariah and a cash cow.

I've been saying for years cars have become far too heavy and I'd tax them according to weight instead of the emissions of a gas which is not harmful at the point of discharge.

If I were Chancellor....
Petrol rate.
Up to 400Kg free tax.
400-650Kg £100
650-950Kg £250
950-1300Kg £800
1300-1800Kg  £1500
Over 1800Kg, £2k plus speed limiter of 60mph and special licence needed.

Diesel rate as above +50%.

EVs get an extra 100Kg allowance for batteries over petrol rates.


Think how many of our road/driving problems that would solve besides wear & tear on the road surface. The challenge for the manufacturers would be to build more efficient machines from the least possible amount of raw materials.
Might even create things we could enjoy driving again?

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, Spiny Norman said:

I don't know the ins and outs of the politics but I just have this impression that the Dutch have better government and councils than we do. We'd have no potholes either if the roads were maintained properly but in the UK the private motorist is seen simultaneously as a pariah and a cash cow.

I've been saying for years cars have become far too heavy and I'd tax them according to weight instead of the emissions of a gas which is not harmful at the point of discharge.

If I were Chancellor....
Petrol rate.
Up to 400Kg free tax.
400-650Kg £100
650-950Kg £250
950-1300Kg £800
1300-1800Kg  £1500
Over 1800Kg, £2k plus speed limiter of 60mph and special licence needed.

Diesel rate as above +50%.

EVs get an extra 100Kg allowance for batteries over petrol rates.


Think how many of our road/driving problems that would solve besides wear & tear on the road surface. The challenge for the manufacturers would be to build more efficient machines from the least possible amount of raw materials.
Might even create things we could enjoy driving again?

What if my car weighs 951kg , I’m single and weigh 75kg. My neighbour’s car weighs 949kg, but he’s calorifically challenged and weighs 150kg , has a wife who’s no stranger to the biscuit barrel and three kids that consider McDonald’s their second home. On a family day out , it’s practically an HGV but he pays less road tax for a lighter car. About as fair as the current system.

[bangernomics]

I was impressed by the way on a road near Vlissingen Dutch services (water gas electricity) are in conduits under the sidewalk so there is no need to dig up the road whenever there is a fault. The conduits were covered by concrete slabs that could be lifted off to get access.

Walk down past the old Liverpool royal hospital, it has the same system as do a lot of heavy infrastructure points.

[Remspoor]

19 hours ago, D.E said:

If they think our roads are "smooth" then I am a slightly concerned about the state of the British infrastructure...

Partially true, it also depends heavily on the type of fuel.  For example, my 205 is 17 euros tax a month but it would have been four times as much for a diesel one.

Having just driven from NL to Spain, via Belgium and France. I car assure you the Dutch have very smooth roads. However, you may have the sharpest teeth jarring  Drempels.

[willswitchengage]

14 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

What if my car weighs 951kg , I’m single and weigh 75kg. My neighbour’s car weighs 949kg, but he’s calorifically challenged and weighs 150kg , has a wife who’s no stranger to the biscuit barrel and three kids that consider McDonald’s their second home. On a family day out , it’s practically an HGV but he pays less road tax for a lighter car. About as fair as the current system.

Problem two is that road tax has absolutely nothing to do with usage.

A small car driving 100,000 miles a year will cause more wear and tear than a larger one driving 1,000.

Tax fuel - it's directly proportionate to use  and therefore road wear. Drive more, drive a bigger car, drive like a dick, you'll use more fuel and therefore pay more tax. How hard can it be?

[artdjones]

16 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

EVs get an extra 100Kg allowance for batteries over petrol rates.

Probably would need a multiple of that.

[artdjones]

A 1500kg car with two axles at 750kg per axle will cause very little damage to a well constructed road.

A 44000kg truck with 5 axles will cause a lot of damage at 8800kg per axle.

Compare it to breaking up a concrete slab. You could bash away at the slab for years with a 75 gram tack hammer without breaking it.

An 880g lump hammer would do it fairly quickly.

[DSdriver]

Part of the problem in the UK is that we are still using iromongery designed and installed for when there was a maximum weight limit for trucks of 32 tons from before we had to bow to the supremacy of the EU.

Swiss roads are ace.

[yes oui si]

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

Having just driven from NL to Spain, via Belgium and France. I car assure you the Dutch have very smooth roads. However, you may have the sharpest teeth jarring  Drempels.

The more Dutch I read, the more I'm convinced that the entire nation is trolling the other Germanic languages, and I'm all for it. 

[Barry Cade]

3 minutes ago, yes oui si said:

The more Dutch I read, the more I'm convinced that the entire nation is trolling the other Germanic languages, and I'm all for it. 

Nothing beats Fartshumpers!

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

4 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

Nothing beats Fartshumpers!

 

As a Norwegian rally driver said, it's not the fart that kills but the smell.

Fart=Speed  Smell=Bang.

[yes oui si]

14 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

Nothing beats Fartshumpers!

 

"Let op!" sounds like the kind of thing a midlander would say to an overenthusiastic bus driver. Imagine it in a Leeds accent. 

[yes oui si]

Also, is that a Mazda 323 on the sign? 

[willswitchengage]

I had a 100% enforceable* idea that roadworks must pay a bond whenever they are conducted, which is refundable say five years later if their work is to a decent quality and survived. This idea has stemmed from the fact that a few years ago a trench was cut and filled across my road - no surprises, three years or so later, there is now a very real trench where crap workmanship has led to it subsiding by a couple of inches its whole length.

Idea #2 - council actually charge for roadworks. This would dissuade them in the first place (do we really all need fibre broadband so we can watch porn in 8K?) and also try and limit the plague of pointless temporary traffic lights causing unnecessary congestion everywhere.