Every experienced driver can sympathise with the shock of unexpectedly going over a pothole. Your car dips, you hear a loud "thunk" and for a second you worry if you've hit something serious.
There is good reason to avoid these holes as potholes can be potentially damaging to your car, especially to your tyres and shock absorbers. Running over a hole on the road can cause damage that would cost a lot to repair. Here are few tips to help you avoid potholes when you can or mitigate the damage when you can't.
The problem with potholes in Ghana is that it starts with roads that are not maintained properly for decades and then when the rains come, the infrastructure is not able to stand the stress.
The potholes start with cracks on the road surface. The cracks are caused by routine traffic and ageing.
Avoiding potholes
Whenever possible, you should avoid driving over a pothole. Be careful, however, as it's much better to drive over a small hole than into another car.
Your driving
Perhaps unsurprisingly your best bet of avoiding the menace of potholes is to not drive into them in the first place. Easy enough in theory, not so straightforward in practice. But there are a few tactics that will help.
• Be mindful of traffic - Observe other vehicles in traffic ahead of you. If they are slowing down or swerving, there may be a problem with the road ahead.
• Be cautious with puddles. They may be just that — puddles — or they may be hiding a deep pothole. It's especially difficult to tell when it’s a harmless puddle, so try not to take any unnecessary chances.
• Keep your windshield clean - It is important to ensure that you can see. Seeing the road is the most important part of safe driving.
• Reduce speed - It's safer to drive more slowly on roads that often have potholes or seem to be in a state of disrepair. The slower you go over a pothole — especially one that you don't anticipate — the less damage there will be to your car.
Slow down
Not only does slowing down give you more time to spot a pothole in the first place, it also lessens the impact if you can't avoid it. Slamming on the brakes to avoid a pothole could mean getting shunted up the rear as a result, so take it steady, particularly on urban roads.
Other drivers
If you see another road user swerve or slow down ahead for no obvious reason, that could be your clue. Keeping your eyes glued to the road in front is one thing, but watching the behaviour of other drivers also gives you more information about the road ahead.
Standing water
Avoid puddles. Yes, we know it's fun to splash your car through them, but a big puddle is likely to have a pothole lurking beneath the water's surface. Steer as clear as you can, and if you must drive through it, drive slowly.
Mitigating the damage
When you can't avoid going over a pothole — and sometimes you can't — there are still some steps you can take to avoid damage to your vehicle or keep yourself from a costly mutual insurance claim.
• Don't hit the brakes - Brake only lightly when you find yourself about to go over a pothole, and make sure that you aren't pressing on the brake when you are over it. This may seem counterintuitive, but braking compresses your front-end suspension system, and this may increase the damage to your car.
• Grip the wheel - Hold the steering wheel tightly as you go over the hole. If you have a loose grip going over a pothole you may lose control of the car, especially if it's larger than you anticipate.
• Keep your tyres in shape - Maintain proper air pressure in your tyres at all times to keep potholes from doing more damage to your vehicles. If your tyres are under-inflated, they have a significantly higher risk of bursting from the stress of going over a pothole.
