Fed-up Aussies take to the roads to express outrage

It’s a common occurrence—driving around in your car and coming face to face with yet another road needing serious repair.

From huge potholes to uneven surfaces, we have all been victims of bad road infrastructure at some point, much to the dismay of hardworking taxpayers.

Recently, Aussies across the country have been expressing their outrage, and it appears that someone has finally had enough.


‘Fix it you lazy p****s’ was spray-painted on an Adelaide road, with an arrow indicating an uneven kerb at a roundabout.

Efforts were made to smooth the surface, but the job remained unfinished, leading to a blunt call for action.


Fix it you pricks!.jpg
An anonymous road user voiced frustration about the deteriorating condition of the roundabout. Image source: Facebook


MP Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister of Education, Training, and Skills, posted an image of the road message on social media.

While he made it clear that he doesn’t endorse graffiti, he did take the responsibility of alerting authorities about the road conditions.

‘I don’t agree with spray painting the road to make your point (and just creating further work for the council in the process), but nonetheless, I have written to the City of Tee Tree Gully council about the kerb,’ he wrote.

Thousands of locals commented on his post, with some pointing out that it’s telling when representatives only seem to pay attention to such issues after a drastic measure like this is taken.

‘If the council fixed it in a timely fashion in the first place, people wouldn’t have to resort to spray painting a road,’ one shared.


According to data obtained by The Adelaide Advertiser through a Freedom of Information request, South Australians face a hefty $3 billion price tag to fix their deteriorating roads.

The figures indicate that approximately 2039 kilometres of roads are in significant disrepair.

‘People are sick and tired…we have to put up with bad roads and bad footpaths,’ another Adelaide local said.


pothole-1703340_1280.jpg
South Australians need about $3 billion to fix their crumbling roads, covering around 2039 kilometres. Image source: Pixabay


The issue is not exclusive to South Australia; several La Niña and flooding weather events in recent years appear to have significantly impacted road conditions across Australia.

Additionally, it seems federal government funding is not keeping up with the resources demanded by local councils.


Local councils, overseeing 75 per cent of Australia’s roads, only receive four per cent of national taxation for maintenance, according to the Australia Local Government Association.

This underscores the challenges in sustaining and improving the country’s roads.

‘The research shows that over the past 20 years, federal Financial Assistance Grants have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of constructing and maintaining roads,’ Australian Local Government Association President Councillor Linda Scott explained.

Key Takeaways

  • An Adelaide road user expressed their frustration over the city’s road conditions by spray painting a message calling for action.
  • An image of the written message was posted online by MP Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister of Education, Training and Skills, who subsequently notified local authorities.
  • South Australians face almost $3 billion to fix their crumbling roads, with up to 2039 kilometres of roads in major disrepair.
  • Despite councils collectively managing around 75 per cent of Australia’s road network, only four per cent of national taxation goes toward road maintenance and repair.
Members, what are your thoughts on this story? How should the government address problems with distressing road conditions? Share your views in the comments below!
 
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It’s a common occurrence—driving around in your car and coming face to face with yet another road needing serious repair.

From huge potholes to uneven surfaces, we have all been victims of bad road infrastructure at some point, much to the dismay of hardworking taxpayers.

Recently, Aussies across the country have been expressing their outrage, and it appears that someone has finally had enough.


‘Fix it you lazy p****s’ was spray-painted on an Adelaide road, with an arrow indicating an uneven kerb at a roundabout.

Efforts were made to smooth the surface, but the job remained unfinished, leading to a blunt call for action.


View attachment 33545
An anonymous road user voiced frustration about the deteriorating condition of the roundabout. Image source: Facebook


MP Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister of Education, Training, and Skills, posted an image of the road message on social media.

While he made it clear that he doesn’t endorse graffiti, he did take the responsibility of alerting authorities about the road conditions.

‘I don’t agree with spray painting the road to make your point (and just creating further work for the council in the process), but nonetheless, I have written to the City of Tee Tree Gully council about the kerb,’ he wrote.

Thousands of locals commented on his post, with some pointing out that it’s telling when representatives only seem to pay attention to such issues after a drastic measure like this is taken.

‘If the council fixed it in a timely fashion in the first place, people wouldn’t have to resort to spray painting a road,’ one shared.


According to data obtained by The Adelaide Advertiser through a Freedom of Information request, South Australians face a hefty $3 billion price tag to fix their deteriorating roads.

The figures indicate that approximately 2039 kilometres of roads are in significant disrepair.

‘People are sick and tired…we have to put up with bad roads and bad footpaths,’ another Adelaide local said.


View attachment 33546
South Australians need about $3 billion to fix their crumbling roads, covering around 2039 kilometres. Image source: Pixabay


The issue is not exclusive to South Australia; several La Niña and flooding weather events in recent years appear to have significantly impacted road conditions across Australia.

Additionally, it seems federal government funding is not keeping up with the resources demanded by local councils.


Local councils, overseeing 75 per cent of Australia’s roads, only receive four per cent of national taxation for maintenance, according to the Australia Local Government Association.

This underscores the challenges in sustaining and improving the country’s roads.

‘The research shows that over the past 20 years, federal Financial Assistance Grants have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of constructing and maintaining roads,’ Australian Local Government Association President Councillor Linda Scott explained.

Key Takeaways

  • An Adelaide road user expressed their frustration over the city’s road conditions by spray painting a message calling for action.
  • An image of the written message was posted online by MP Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister of Education, Training and Skills, who subsequently notified local authorities.
  • South Australians face almost $3 billion to fix their crumbling roads, with up to 2039 kilometres of roads in major disrepair.
  • Despite councils collectively managing around 75 per cent of Australia’s road network, only four per cent of national taxation goes toward road maintenance and repair.
Members, what are your thoughts on this story? How should the government address problems with distressing road conditions? Share your views in the comments below!
Go live in tassie the roads are a tyre sellers joy 🙀the roads are disgusting.
 
Go live in tassie the roads are a tyre sellers joy 🙀the roads are disgusting.
Nonsense, the roads in Tassie are ok; go live in Papua New Guinea if you want to know what is a pothole. However, the potholes prevent speeding so one might call them "Traffic Calmers"............

How many kilometres of railway track would $3 billion buy?
 
Nonsense, the roads in Tassie are ok; go live in Papua New Guinea if you want to know what is a pothole. However, the potholes prevent speeding so one might call them "Traffic Calmers"............

How many kilometres of railway track would $3 billion buy?
Not on the west coast they are not I should know I lived there for over 20 years and the trucks from the mines fd them up big time.😊and the road to Hobart from the coast is a cars nightmare.🙀also fd up my brand new Mazda with the potholes.😊
 
Nonsense, the roads in Tassie are ok; go live in Papua New Guinea if you want to know what is a pothole. However, the potholes prevent speeding so one might call them "Traffic Calmers"............

How many kilometres of railway track would $3 billion buy?
Boy took your time responding buddy boy🤣🤣that was 1st nov. where ya been stuck in a pothole in tassie🤣🤣
 
I do know that this is the worst possible time to make this comment. Years ago the NSW government charged an extra 5 cents per litre on fuel that went to their road structure. Maybe the Federal government should give that amount to the states, according to the amount of fuel usage. But then, could you be sure it would be spent ONLY on roads throughout the state and not just in areas where pollies live and their favourite stomping grounds.
 
Boy took your time responding buddy boy🤣🤣that was 1st nov. where ya been stuck in a pothole in tassie🤣🤣
Roads are still not good though haven’t been to the west coast for awhile. Our main highways are being upgraded, still not four lanes from Launceston to Hobart just overtaking lanes. Totally hopeless. Tassie roads have way too many bends in them. If the potholes don’t get you the wombats will! They keep telling us to drive slower between dusk & dawn, REALLY.
 
Roads are still not good though haven’t been to the west coast for awhile. Our main highways are being upgraded, still not four lanes from Launceston to Hobart just overtaking lanes. Totally hopeless. Tassie roads have way too many bends in them. If the potholes don’t get you the wombats will! They keep telling us to drive slower between dusk & dawn, REALLY.
Yeah they used to try to reseal the west coast roads but they did such a crappy job the rains kept washing them away again.apparantely there are 44 bends and corners just around the hills from Queenstown to gormanston alone.i used to suffer from car sickness🤢not fun.only did Launceston to Hobart once in all my time there.tourists always commented on the dead animals but you can’t expect trucks to stop it’d be catrastrophic.🙀
 
Ah well; I used to drive that road to Queenstown and back (and to Zeehan or to Strahan and back) every week in the good old days before the internet. It was a good road then, a few bends in it to make it interesting, unlike the now dangerously dull and boring Midlands Highway. Still some people can never be pleased. For dead straight roads try Melbourne-Geelong; that is the type of road on which you can all too easily fall asleep. If you can't use a steering wheel and brakes to go round corners safely, you shouldn't be allowed a vehicle. Not even an electric scooter.

As for the Midlands Highway, why do you need to overtake other vehicles? They are all doing 100-110kph. If you are that impatient that we should spend umpteen millions of dollars making it 4 lanes all the way, so you can overtake at 110kph someone doing 90-100kph, then ........?
 
It’s a common occurrence—driving around in your car and coming face to face with yet another road needing serious repair.

From huge potholes to uneven surfaces, we have all been victims of bad road infrastructure at some point, much to the dismay of hardworking taxpayers.

Recently, Aussies across the country have been expressing their outrage, and it appears that someone has finally had enough.


‘Fix it you lazy p****s’ was spray-painted on an Adelaide road, with an arrow indicating an uneven kerb at a roundabout.

Efforts were made to smooth the surface, but the job remained unfinished, leading to a blunt call for action.


View attachment 33545
An anonymous road user voiced frustration about the deteriorating condition of the roundabout. Image source: Facebook


MP Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister of Education, Training, and Skills, posted an image of the road message on social media.

While he made it clear that he doesn’t endorse graffiti, he did take the responsibility of alerting authorities about the road conditions.

‘I don’t agree with spray painting the road to make your point (and just creating further work for the council in the process), but nonetheless, I have written to the City of Tee Tree Gully council about the kerb,’ he wrote.

Thousands of locals commented on his post, with some pointing out that it’s telling when representatives only seem to pay attention to such issues after a drastic measure like this is taken.

‘If the council fixed it in a timely fashion in the first place, people wouldn’t have to resort to spray painting a road,’ one shared.


According to data obtained by The Adelaide Advertiser through a Freedom of Information request, South Australians face a hefty $3 billion price tag to fix their deteriorating roads.

The figures indicate that approximately 2039 kilometres of roads are in significant disrepair.

‘People are sick and tired…we have to put up with bad roads and bad footpaths,’ another Adelaide local said.


View attachment 33546
South Australians need about $3 billion to fix their crumbling roads, covering around 2039 kilometres. Image source: Pixabay


The issue is not exclusive to South Australia; several La Niña and flooding weather events in recent years appear to have significantly impacted road conditions across Australia.

Additionally, it seems federal government funding is not keeping up with the resources demanded by local councils.


Local councils, overseeing 75 per cent of Australia’s roads, only receive four per cent of national taxation for maintenance, according to the Australia Local Government Association.

This underscores the challenges in sustaining and improving the country’s roads.

‘The research shows that over the past 20 years, federal Financial Assistance Grants have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of constructing and maintaining roads,’ Australian Local Government Association President Councillor Linda Scott explained.

Key Takeaways

  • An Adelaide road user expressed their frustration over the city’s road conditions by spray painting a message calling for action.
  • An image of the written message was posted online by MP Blair Boyer, the South Australian Minister of Education, Training and Skills, who subsequently notified local authorities.
  • South Australians face almost $3 billion to fix their crumbling roads, with up to 2039 kilometres of roads in major disrepair.
  • Despite councils collectively managing around 75 per cent of Australia’s road network, only four per cent of national taxation goes toward road maintenance and repair.
Members, what are your thoughts on this story? How should the government address problems with distressing road conditions? Share your views in the comments below!
Come to the Tourist Hub of Australia worst roads potholes roads built on sand in disrepair, footpaths sometimes we pay the Mayor more money than the Mayor in New York and he sits in his Ivory tower telling everyone how good he is . The good old Gold Coast ✨
 
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Ah well; I used to drive that road to Queenstown and back (and to Zeehan or to Strahan and back) every week in the good old days before the internet. It was a good road then, a few bends in it to make it interesting, unlike the now dangerously dull and boring Midlands Highway. Still some people can never be pleased. For dead straight roads try Melbourne-Geelong; that is the type of road on which you can all too easily fall asleep. If you can't use a steering wheel and brakes to go round corners safely, you shouldn't be allowed a vehicle. Not even an electric scooter.

As for the Midlands Highway, why do you need to overtake other vehicles? They are all doing 100-110kph. If you are that impatient that we should spend umpteen millions of dollars making it 4 lanes all the way, so you can overtake at 110kph someone doing 90-100kph, then ........?
Definitely find the Midland Highway boring & as for 4 lanes, try being stuck behind a line of trucks who use up all of the overtaking lanes to pass each other as well as caravans & campervans doing likewise. No I don’t expect dead straight roads, but most country roads here are terrible, I think they followed the old horse & cart tracks. Even my ever patient husband gets frustrated at times, especially when having to deal with a bunch of cyclists on a narrow, winding road. Also haven’t you ever encountered drivers who drive rather slow then speed up in the climbing lanes then back to a crawl when back to single lanes? We come across such drivers regularly.
 
Definitely find the Midland Highway boring & as for 4 lanes, try being stuck behind a line of trucks who use up all of the overtaking lanes to pass each other as well as caravans & campervans doing likewise. No I don’t expect dead straight roads, but most country roads here are terrible, I think they followed the old horse & cart tracks. Even my ever patient husband gets frustrated at times, especially when having to deal with a bunch of cyclists on a narrow, winding road. Also haven’t you ever encountered drivers who drive rather slow then speed up in the climbing lanes then back to a crawl when back to single lanes? We come across such drivers regularly.
Absolutely spot on patti😊I gave up driving a year after I moved back to Melbourne and best thing I ever did. Driving here scared the day lights out of me I was a nervous wreck. I still hate getting in peoples cars to go anywhere.😊
 
There are two ways to construct a road, the right way and the bodge way. We have the machinery and the materials and yet a new road can be as rough as the road they have supposedly replaced. I can understand adverse weather affecting roads, this cannot be avoided. However, the majority of roads are of poor construction as are footpaths.
Camber is not consistent with the factory alignment of many vehicles causing under or oversteering and constant wander. Not to mention the many dips and bumps which are not removed. There is too much camber on footpaths, unnecessary if drainage is applied properly and makes it safer for parents pushing toddlers in pushchairs, people trying to navigate with shopping trollies and the disabled in wheelchairs and gophers.
Maintenance repairs are a joke, there is a bridge that is level near me that has had a bad bump on one of the expansion joints, They had five vehicles and numerous men and all the bells and whistles to do a superb repair, yes they have got rid of the bump but now we have a massive hollow which heavy vehicles will not take long to destroy.
I worked on road and motorway contracts for about 14 years both in the UK and Middle East. What I see here with any form of construction is about the price over quality, there does not appear to be penalty rates on contractors and they operate as if they have an open chequebook. I live in SA, so not sure if my comments are warranted for any other state.
 
There are two ways to construct a road, the right way and the bodge way. We have the machinery and the materials and yet a new road can be as rough as the road they have supposedly replaced. I can understand adverse weather affecting roads, this cannot be avoided. However, the majority of roads are of poor construction as are footpaths.
Camber is not consistent with the factory alignment of many vehicles causing under or oversteering and constant wander. Not to mention the many dips and bumps which are not removed. There is too much camber on footpaths, unnecessary if drainage is applied properly and makes it safer for parents pushing toddlers in pushchairs, people trying to navigate with shopping trollies and the disabled in wheelchairs and gophers.
Maintenance repairs are a joke, there is a bridge that is level near me that has had a bad bump on one of the expansion joints, They had five vehicles and numerous men and all the bells and whistles to do a superb repair, yes they have got rid of the bump but now we have a massive hollow which heavy vehicles will not take long to destroy.
I worked on road and motorway contracts for about 14 years both in the UK and Middle East. What I see here with any form of construction is about the price over quality, there does not appear to be penalty rates on contractors and they operate as if they have an open chequebook. I live in SA, so not sure if my comments are warranted for any other state.
Absolutely. Often in Tasmania contractors are doing patch up jobs before the road has been officially opened. Footpaths in my suburb are terrible & have been since shortly after they were done.
 
I do know that this is the worst possible time to make this comment. Years ago the NSW government charged an extra 5 cents per litre on fuel that went to their road structure. Maybe the Federal government should give that amount to the states, according to the amount of fuel usage. But then, could you be sure it would be spent ONLY on roads throughout the state and not just in areas where pollies live and their favourite stomping grounds.
I remember that. What happened? They conveniently 'forgot' when the next Government Party was elected
 
Definitely find the Midland Highway boring & as for 4 lanes, try being stuck behind a line of trucks who use up all of the overtaking lanes to pass each other as well as caravans & campervans doing likewise. No I don’t expect dead straight roads, but most country roads here are terrible, I think they followed the old horse & cart tracks. Even my ever patient husband gets frustrated at times, especially when having to deal with a bunch of cyclists on a narrow, winding road. Also haven’t you ever encountered drivers who drive rather slow then speed up in the climbing lanes then back to a crawl when back to single lanes? We come across such drivers regularly.
Tough life isn't it? Especially when you have to put up with cyclists! I have "done" the Midlands Highway more times than I care to remember during the last 40 years and I have never had the problems that people whinge about when it comes to other traffic. However, it is Australia; a good whinge is to be expected..
 
Tough life isn't it? Especially when you have to put up with cyclists! I have "done" the Midlands Highway more times than I care to remember during the last 40 years and I have never had the problems that people whinge about when it comes to other traffic. However, it is Australia; a good whinge is to be expected..
Yeah😊and don’t it feel good.😎
 
Tough life isn't it? Especially when you have to put up with cyclists! I have "done" the Midlands Highway more times than I care to remember during the last 40 years and I have never had the problems that people whinge about when it comes to other traffic. However, it is Australia; a good whinge is to be expected..
Maybe you’re one of the people annoying the rest of us! My brother travels the Midland Highway twice a week & some of the things he witnesses are truly incredible.
 
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