South Africa’s pothole epidemic is costing the country more than R500 million every month, equivalent to purchasing approximately 550,000 new tyres, and it is only getting worse in most metropolitan areas.
Gauteng, in particular, has been plagued with road hazards to the point that locals have been taking matters into their own hands, either by flagging potholes through the use of spray paint or by attempting to fill the crevices themselves with cement or stones.
One exception to this rule has been the City of Johannesburg, which has seen a substantial drop in pothole-related insurance claims over the course of the last two years, according to Discovery Insure.
When public service fails
In 2021, Discovery launched its Pothole Patrol programme in the city as part of an effort to assist the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) in dealing with the hub’s road problems.
The initiative led to a 26% drop in pothole-related claims within its first eight months of operations, from May 2021 to December 2021, said the insurer.
At the same time that Joburg was experiencing a drop in claims, the rest of Gauteng saw a 45% increase in insurance requests. Likewise, pothole-related incidents saw a 29% spike in 2022 across the country, but did not increase in Gauteng’s biggest metro where Pothole Patrol mainly operates.
So far, the initiative has resulted in 13,000 app downloads and 58,000 potholes have been reported. The insurer has also gone through more than 7,000 tonnes of asphalt to fill in over 175,000 road hazards – the equivalent of 43,000 square metres.
The service operates seven days a week and prioritizes major roads within the metro that are reported by multiple people. Discovery’s technicians also work alongside local authorities to identify and repair crevices in areas that are not regularly patrolled.
The JRA estimates that there are still around 45,000 potholes spread out across Johannesburg’s 14,000km road network.
More recently, Discovery has partnered with Avis Southern Africa to expand its repair capabilities, and the insurer has also been incorporating new pothole-identifying technology based on its Vitality Drive system.
The system uses artificial intelligence to scan the road and identify imperfections in real-time, effectively creating a roadmap database of potholes that can be used for repair and prioritization purposes, it said.
Keyword: The real monthly cost of potholes to South Africans