I would like to help the authorities deal with the many potholes that riddle our roads by identifying potentially dangerous ones with the aim of getting them repaired before some serious accident happens.

I’m now faced with another bill to have the windscreen removed and resealed again

I recently fell victim to one such massive hole. Driving to work through Mrieħel, a few metres away from the entrance to Home Mate, camouflaged by the sunlight, there lay, in all its enormity and depth, the mother of all potholes and, sure enough, crash… boom… and a couple of swear words later, I was stuck in it with a ripped front run flat tyre and a chipped windscreen. The bang was big and could have been so much more damaging to the car and to myself.

In shock, I slowly drove in search of a vulcaniser to repair my tyre.

I found a garage open in Mrabat Street and a man told me he would change the tyre and repair the windscreen the next day, for a total of €600.

Should the authorities, the council, TM, or whoever is responsible not be accountable? Who is going to compensate me? Who is ultimately responsible? In the UK, authorities currently pay out more than £50 million in compensation claims due to poor roads.

A report issued by the AA in the UK recently claimed that potholed roads in the UK have led to a leap in car windscreen damage.

The survey also revealed that incidents of damaged windscreens increased 30 per cent this year in the UK.

Potholes in the UK are estimated to cause as many as one in five mechanical failures and cost motorists an estimated £370 million every year (potholes.co.uk). Some consolation!

Now here’s another one. The vulcaniser did repair my tyre and windscreen in a day, but two weeks later, as I powerwashed my car, water leaked through the windscreen onto my dashboard and, on closer inspection, I realised what a shoddy job he had carried out. I’m now faced with another bill to have the windscreen removed and resealed again.

Besides this particular nasty pothole (which has since been repaired), Mriehel is full of roads left in a state of total abandonment, to the extent that leaving work in my car is practically impossible unless I break the law, since the road leading out of our printing press is simply unusable.

I urge the authorities to take a close look at Mrieħel roads and intervene before more serious consequences occur. I also urge readers to send in pictures of potholes and roads you would like to highlight as being dangerous.

motoring@timesofmalta.com