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Tow truck required after two tyres blown in Northern Distributor pothole
October 9, 2022
By Peter Holmes
A tow truck had to be called after a woman driving late on Saturday night along the Northern Distributor Road blew two tyres in a pothole.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was driving with one of her children from Bathurst to Orange.
At about 10pm she turned from the Mitchell Highway onto the Northern Distributor Road.
"I'd slowed down to about 40km/h or so and was carefully driving around the potholes," the woman told The Orange News Examiner. "Most of them you could see, because of the light-coloured dirt under them."
The woman said she "dodged some of them, and then there was a great clunk, and as soon as I got out of the pothole I could tell the tyres had blown".
"It was terrifying in some ways, it was so dark and we were just over the crest of the hill. I couldn't safely stop there so I continued down to Icely Road.
"As soon as I got out of the car I could see both tyres had popped and were flat on the rim."
The NRMA was called and booked a tow truck to take the station wagon into Orange. Both the NRMA and the tow truck attended promptly.
The woman said it was "ridiculous that this area hasn't been fixed".
"I know that the wet has made the potholes bigger and created new ones, but it's really just a matter of time before there is a serious accident up there," she said. "I was only going slowly - imagine if you were going at the speed limit. It's not just the potholes, but people swerving out of their lane to avoid them."
The car was towed to a tyre shop. To add insult to injury, when the woman went to check the car on Sunday morning, one of the doors had been jimmied ajar.
"I think the alarm must have gone off and scared them away," the woman said. Nothing was stolen.
The tyre shop is checking CCTV footage and the matter has been reported to police.
As state politicians engage in a war of words over potholes, federal member Andrew Gee has called for the federal Labor government to pour more cash into roads.
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"The current condition of our roads is an incredibly dangerous issue that needs to be tackled immediately," Gee said on Friday.
“Not only are potholes hitting our back pockets by puncturing tires and bending wheel rims, they’re costing our local councils big time.”
Gee said road crews at councils are “stretched and exhausted. Patching is the best many councils can do right now, but this is not sustainable. Funding is urgently needed to make these roads safe again. This needs to be a national priority that crosses party lines”.
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