When Lois Kelly was driving on Nimbin Road and she saw a big pothole coming up, she did was any driver would do – and she veered to the side to avoid it. Unfortunately, there was also another large pothole there and her car tyre went right into it.

It caused so much damage that she needs to buy a new wheel and a tyre. 

Now, she says it will cost her $550 to replace it – and it’s the second time Lismore’s bad roads have damaged one of her tyres.

Lois was so infuriated by the condition of the road that she posted a picture of her destroyed car wheel on Facebook. 

The resulting comments on social media showed that numerous others have experienced the same thing – not only on the same road, but on other Lismore roads.

One local commented on Lois’ Facebook post: “it happened to me last week between Tregeagle and Wyrallah. Hit so hard my passenger side rear mirror fell off. I parked, walked back to get it and found 12 hubcaps along the roadside. Infuriating.”

Another person lamented the passing of Roadart – a local who was renowned for painting bright colours around potholes as a warning to motorists. 

"Disgusting"

“The road to Nimbin is disgusting,” Lois told the Lismore App.  

“Some locals told me those potholes have been there for weeks – and they haven’t been fixed. 

 “If you are local and you know a pothole is coming up, you can avoid it, but what about visitors who don’t know the road?

“At the very least, Council needs to put up a warning sign – or change the driving speed zone to slower than 80 km on the bad road bits.”

“They should take on the responsibility to look after tourists or rate payers.”

Construction questions

Lois also posed some questions about how the Lismore roads were constructed. 

“Why is it that in Tweed Shire, they get they as much rain as we do and their roads are fine?” Lois said.

“I want to know what Lismore City Council is using to make the road base and why is it not as effective as what other councils use?

“Many people are asking me the same questions.”

Lois said she intends to email her concerns all local councilors – and would also like to ask Lismore Council to pay for her tyre.

“But I know they won’t,” she said. 

“Some people told me to make a claim for damage with the NSW government.”

Public liability claim

This is not the first time the Lismore App has reported on locals’ ire over pothole damage to their vehicles, but we thought we’d clarify what you can and can’t claim for if your car is damaged on Lismore roads.

If your car is damaged on a State managed road (like the Bruxner Highway), then you can lodge a public liability claim with Transport for NSW. 

The website states “If your car or other property has been damaged due to the condition of a NSW public road, you may be eligible to claim the repair costs.”

Find out which roads are State roads

Unfortunately for Lois, Nimbi Road is a road managed by Lismore City Council, so she will not be able to lodge a claim with Transport for NSW.

After living in Lismore for many years, Lois recently moved from Lismore to Queensland.

“I never thought I’d say it, but I’m glad I did and can’t wait to get back there,” she said.

Roads campaign

One of the problems with fixing Lismore’s large road network is the lack of funding that comes from the State government to help Lismore City Council fix them.

Lismore’s new mayor Steve Krieg has made a big point of campaigning to fix the roads all through his recent election campaign.

Recently, he teamed up with State MP Janelle Saffin to lobby the State Government for more funding to fix local roads. Read more: Krieg and Saffin team up to improve Lismore's roads

This week, the Lismore App will continue exploring the issue of roads and bring you the latest news from Lismore City Council about where we are at with fixing our local road network. Keep watching this space.