I READ both of the articles on taking care on the roads this winter (Gazette January 7) from the police and crime commissioner, Martin Surl and GCC cabinet member for road safety, Cllr Will Windsor Clive and of course agree with everything they advise. However, what they both, possibly conveniently, failed to mention was the danger posed to the road user this winter by the appalling and worsening state of the county’s roads.

It cannot be disputed that a pothole when frozen is nothing better than a skating rink affording no braking at all. A pothole filled with water when driven over by traffic spreads this water thinly far and wide which will then freeze more easily increasing the area of ice affording no grip whatsoever.

Coupled with the fact that a badly eroded road surface makes the job of the shock absorbers more difficult for the wheels to maintain contact with the road makes driving in winter even more treacherous than it should be increasing the likelihood of an accident. Let’s face it, how many of us has a decent set of shock absorbers on their vehicle after driving on Gloucestershire’s roads these past few years.

Three weeks ago I recently walked out in to the road to have a word with an Amey contractor (they have the contract from GCC to repair our roads) to inform him that there had been a deep pothole in that road for three weeks (unmarked). He replied that they inspect the roads every two weeks to mark for repair! He duly sprayed yellow paint around the hole and it was filled that afternoon. Unfortunately they didn’t (or wouldn’t) file the hole completely with the result that it is breaking away again.

Being rather cynical I suspect that they realise they are on to a nice little earner here. They save money by doing a bodge job and then are safe in the knowledge that they can earn a bit more when repairing it a similar standard again.

If we are not happy with our elected councillors we can vote for someone else next time. Unfortunately we are not able to get rid of Amey or the Gloucestershire County Council employees who are responsible for employing them in the first place.

Brian Werrett

Wotton-under-Edge