MOTORISTS should be able to claim damages from the municipality if their vehicles suffer damage caused by driving through potholes.
That’s the opinion of local resdient, Clint Eksteen who is fuming after his vehicle hit a pothole in ZK Matthews (Nicoloson) Road last week, leaving him with a whoppping R80 000 damages bill.
According to Eksteen, he was travelling along the road at 60km on Sunday night, 5 June, when he hit the pothole.
“I drove into the dip of the pothole, which was filled with stones. It had a high step and it burst my front tyre and buckled the rim. It was in the middle of the road and I couldn’t swerve as there was a car travelling on my left. If I had been going faster, I probably wouldn’t have damaged my car so badly,” he said.
Eksteen said other damage to his vehicle included a damaged steering rack, control arm and bumper, with the total amounting to R80 000. According to his insurance, the cost of his claim is above 73 per cent and they intended writing his vehicle off. Eksteen said he had chatted to a panelbeater who told him that he was not the only driver to suffer damage to his car at the same pothole.
“There were apparently three or four blowouts on Sunday and a couple on Saturday. Another driver hit the hole causing his front left tyre to blow and ended up hitting a wall a couple of houses away, writing off his bakkie,” he said.
Lynn Roper, who lives on ZK Mattews Road, said she noticed a resident, Mark Cook, standing on the island directing traffic on 2 June.
“I was angry as Mark had to warn motorists about the pothole. I phoned the emergency services number and told them it was urgent that this hole was fixed as someone was going to get hurt and was told Metro Police would attend. They didn’t come and the problem was still the same the next week, with a few cars being damaged in the meantime,” she said.
Roper took to social media to see if anyone had connections in the municipality who could help get the problem attended to. Fortunately, someone managed to get hold of Roads Maintenance and the hole was repaired on Monday, 6 June.
A number of other angry residents responded on Facebook saying they too had damaged their vehicles in the same spot. One woman said her brother had hit the hole on the Friday forcing him to replace his front tyre and have the rim repaired, along with wheel alignment. She said insurance did not cover tyres and the cost was incurred by her brother. Another woman said she also damaged her vehicle on Saturday night, and had sent the bill and photos to the claims department at eThekwini Municipality.
The Municipality did not respond to requests for comment by the time this newspaper went to press. Nicole Graham, Ward 33 councillor said as far as she was aware the city only paid claims if it could be proved they it had acted negligently. “I imagine the consideration of such is done on a case by case basis, so cannot comment on the technical merits,” she said.
She said claims queries could be sent to claims@durban.gov.za
The contact number is 031 311 1552 or 031 311 1551.
