After the rain came the harvest... potholes

One man's meat is another man's poison. Many have been hoping, praying for rain. And after it came, even though not overly copious, potholes, some big enough to be an obstacle even to heavy vehicles, surfaced in the roads.

Many potholes proved to be dangerous traps for unwary motorists, who, seeing only a sheet of water, mistook them for the surface of the road and sped over them, only to realise it was a pothole when the noise and shock jolted them into reality. But it was too late for many.

They would have already lost a hub cap, burst a tyre or damaged the rim in the process. And vulcanisers had a whale of a time yesterday morning, repairing and replacing tyres.

Spare part sellers will soon be inundated with requests for hub caps, which have a knack of getting loose when the tyre smashes into a pothole. A particular pothole by the second set of traffic lights on the Birkirkara bypass claimed at least 15 hub caps at the weekend. They were still there on the verges of the road yesterday afternoon.

Companies providing towing services contacted yesterday said the largest number of calls they had over the weekend were all "tyre related".

RMF's spokesman, Robert Debattista, said there were four times as many calls over the last weekend.

"The majority of calls had double punctures. Between Friday and Sunday, we had 239 calls to help people with punctures, representing 95 per cent of all those seeking assistance," Mr Debattista said.

Spokesmen for SBT and MTC said they had the same experience.

If it is any consolation, many of the potholes have already been repaired. Transport Minister Censu Galea said repairs could not have been made earlier because of the rain.

"Unfortunately, we had rain for a whole week and everyone knows that many of the roads have bad surfaces and potholes appear. They could not be patched up under wet conditions. Government employees as well as contractors started patching up potholes yesterday morning.

"Roads should not have potholes and we are making it a point to ensure that the roads we are building are up to standard. A small pothole gets bigger and bigger with rain and passing traffic. I am happy to say that the roads we built do not have potholes. But we cannot change all the road surfaces at once," Mr Galea said.

"My only advice to drivers is to be more careful. If one drives at a slow speed, one can get a puncture. But high speed increases damage and danger. I am not blaming drivers, I am simply asking for prudence," Mr Galea said.

In a statement, the Malta Transport Authority said the road patching process was time-consuming and wholly dependent on weather conditions.

"Unless all the water subsides and the road surface begins to dry, it would be a futile albeit laborious task, to tarmac certain sections as the asphalted patches would come off almost immediately.

"None of the roads that have been designed and built over the past four years has been affected by the heavy rainfall," the transport authority said.