Insurance claims surge amid crumbling roads crisis

GIVEN the prevalence of potholes, sometimes craters, that dog South Africa's roads, perhaps Waze should stop warning drivers about them and let those behind the wheel know that the next stretch of road doesn't require a 4x4 to navigate.

- NICOLA MAWSON

The sheer extent of the problem is shown by how many potholes are being filled. The latest information, from 2022, shows that the government's Operation Vala Zonke has filled almost 200,000 potholes: almost two-thirds of these are in Johannesburg.

As Tando Ngibe, senior manager at Budget Insurance, said: "Dodging potholes has increasingly become a professional sport, but doing so can, and sometimes does, result in car accidents. Even if hitting a pothole doesn't cause an accident, the damage incurred is significant."

Ernest North, co-founder of Naked Insurance, explained that the combination of ongoing heavy rains and storms has caused more extensive road damage than usual. "Wet weather also makes it harder for drivers to spot potholes, especially when they're filled with water, increasing the risk of hitting one unexpectedly."

While the 2022 cost to fix a pothole was between R700 and R1 500 per square metre, depending on the size of the hole, car owners and insurance companies also face a financial burden.

Santam's 2022/23 Insurance barometer - the latest available - found that two thirds of the 167 brokers it surveyed reported an increase in client claims, which was mostly attributed to loadshedding, failing infrastructure (potholes/poor road maintenance) and an increase in crime, with the addition of extreme weather on the commercial side.