Resurfacing – cracked windscreen

[ALT]

Earlier this week the Hertfordshire Highways Agency has been resurfacing part of the A602 near Ware. As far as I can tell this involves putting tons of chippings all over the road and using the public’s cars as sweepers to clear the stones off the road.

 

This morning I was driving through the area, very slowly as the quantity of chippings is unbelievable. A car travelling in the opposite direction threw up a stone and it cracked my windscreen. I was livid.

 

Has anyone on here had the same experience, or does anyone know why they use this approach to repairing the road (I can only assume its cheap).

 

I intend to claim the cost back from Herts Highways as I consider putting that quantity of loose chippings on the road and making no attempt to clear it up to be negligent.

[Trev-the-Rev]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune and good luck with your efforts to seek recompense.

[Cool Hand Luke]

Hope you manage to get some compensation.

 

I've no idea why they do this with the chippings - had to endure several miles of this in a Caterham last year! It sounded like we were being shot at and was bloody painful at times too!

[jim]

I thought that this type of repair was being used less frequently now. As far as I know, it is done to prolong the life of the road surface so as to reduce overall maintenance costs. It seems to consist of spreading a thin layer of molten tar over the road then scattering stone chips across it and letting the tar set with the stones embedded. As you have discovered, they don't all stick and large quantities of loose gravel end up being cleared by vehicles using the road.

 

I know a number of people who have had various types of damage caused by this practice. It's not helped by the fact that there is usually some @rse who thinks the recommended very low speed limit applied in these circumstances does not apply to him!

 

In my opinion, this shoddy form of road maintenance is dangerous and costly to many motorists and should be banned. The Highways Agency and local councils should be forced to make proper repairs and maintain all roads properly. After all, we all pay more than enough every year for our road fund licence - I thought this was supposed to be used to fund road maintenance.

[ALT]

Thanks for the replies. I have done some searching and found this from Essex Council. The key word in this is “economicalâ€

[ab20000]

They seem to be re-surfacing every road in Hertfordshire at the moment - I've had the same problem (without the window crack fortunately) - end up driving 10mph over it - am sure I have a few more chips than before now though as drivers from the other direction rarely slow down.

[steve3000]

Didn't spot this post til today, but the missus had almost exactly the same thing on the same road on Wednesday!

 

She had just passed the resurfacing works on the A602, with a 4x4 in front of her - no problem through the works, but the stones are left spread over the road for a long way after - and as the cars got up to speed, the 4x4 shot a huge one at her. Made a really deep chip on the passenger side of her Fiesta's screen !! - if it can't be 'glued' this'll be the second new windscreen in 4 months!

 

Good idea with trying to claim the cost, definately worth a try!

Steve