The DRD (Department of Regional Development) has revealed that it has been forced to pay out over £3.5 million in personal injury compensation in the past five years due to potholes and uneven pavements. The DRD has paid compensation for damage caused to vehicles because potholes in the road, and for personal injury compensation in Ireland.

The department also revealed that it has an outstanding 492 claims for injury compensation and damage that are yet to be resolved.

According to a spokesperson for the DRD, they repaired some 200,000 potholes and unsafe pavements in 2008, with safety being their top priority. Despite their claims, claims due to uneven road and pavement surfaces have risen sharply over the last few years, with 1,800 claims in 2008 compared to just over 1,000 claims in 2004.

SDLP MLA John Dallat expressed his concern over the amount of compensation claims that had been made and the amount of money that had been paid out:

The vast majority of these claims are a result of massive cutbacks in the roads budget.

The folly of it is that while the department is saving money from the cuts, they are then having to pay out major sums of money to people who are injured or whose cars are damaged as a result of bad roads.

We’re not talking about a pothole here and a pothole there. My understanding is that a lot of these claims are coming out because of roads with major deficiencies causing significant damage to expensive cars.