To discover why potholes are so dangerous and can cause serious damage to your car and your health, simply continue reading to discover some of the serious risks associated with hitting a pothole.
Why Potholes are Dangerous While You’re Driving:
You may instantly try to swerve away from a pothole:
One of the key reasons why potholes are extremely dangerous, is that if you find yourself in the direct path of a pothole, you may try to swerve away from the pothole and may collide into another car. In some cases individuals who try to swerve away from potholes end up accidentally hitting pedestrians, cyclists or buildings.
If you slow down to avoid a pothole you may end up causing a car accident:
If you have enough time to slow down in order to avoid a pothole, any cars behind you may not have enough time to slow down and may end up hitting the rear end of your car or even a rental car.
The impact of hitting a pothole at speed can cause serious injuries:
Unfortunately, if you fail to spot a pothole in advance and you end up hitting a pothole at speed, you may end up causing yourself and any passengers in your car serious damage. If you don’t have enough time to avoid hitting a pothole, it’s crucial to try and reduce your speed as the slower you hit a pothole, the less impact the pothole will have on your body.
If you find yourself injured as a result of hitting a pothole, it’s well worth checking to see whether you’re due compensation for your accident. As depending on the area in which your incident takes place you may be eligible to receive compensation for any costs which are associated with your ongoing medical care.
You can cause thousands of dollars of damage to your car:
Not only is there a high chance of injuring yourself by hitting a pothole, you’re likely to cause hundreds or even thousands of dollars of damage to your car, if you end up hitting a sizeable pothole. Especially if your car’s chassis is low to the ground.
However depending on the location in which you hit a pothole, you may be entitled to receiving compensation from the local council. As it is the councils job to ensure that their roads are safe to drive on. So if you ever hit a pothole, it’s well worth conducting a bit of research to find out whether or not you may be able to apply for compensation, if your car is damaged as a result of hitting a pothole. As an example, the Surrey City Council has received over 3,500 pothole claims and have paid out £323,222 to individuals whose pothole related claims were approved.
If you believe that you may have a case, make sure to take a photo of the pothole in question and of any damage which may have been caused to your car.
Hopefully after reading all the information which is listed above, you are now well aware of how important it is to avoid hitting a pothole on the open road. As hitting a pothole can cause thousands of dollars of damage to your car and can leave you seriously injured.
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