Pothole season is back and that means drivers are swerving to avoid damage to their vehicles as the city of Winnipeg tries to catch up on road work.
Valery Chang said she was driving on Jubilee Avenue when she hit a large pothole and popped both of her tires, along with a handful of others.
“It was sort of like a small party of us getting together,” Chang said.
The city said it’s behind on patching roads this year due to the heavy snowfall.
So far, the city has patched 500 holes, compared with 3,000 at this time last year.
It doesn’t take much to do huge damage, said Kevin Reich, branch manager of Denray Tire.
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He said slowing down is key when you see an upcoming puddle.
“Do what you can to drive very slowly through it or through the edge of it,” he said.
If you hit a pothole and need to make an insurance claim, Manitoba Public Insurance says there are two possible outcomes.
If you made no effort to slow down or dodge the pothole, you pay your deductible and get five demerits on your licence.
If the adjuster decides you did everything you could to avoid it, you won’t get the demerits, but you will still have to pay your deductible.
You can report any potholes you see on the City of Winnipeg website.