South Africa’s government has launched an app to tackle potholes in a more decisive way.
The app allows road users to report potholes to the government by taking pictures of them and uploading their real-time locations on the app.
Also, through its pothole ticketing system, the app provides status updates on the issues raised.
According to South African transport minister, Fikile Mbalula, the information on the app then gets through to relevant authorities in the area, cuing the maintenance depot for the road concerned to swing into a pothole-fixing action.
Meanwhile, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL), which is in charge of road maintenance will be closely monitoring the impact of the app-generated interventions over the next six months.
They will also generate reports to show how valid the venture was and the average turnaround time it takes to fix a pothole (their policy says 2 days, though).
With this application, South Africa’s government is bringing transparency, accountability, and citizen participation together to say no to potholes.
