For the first time in Malaysia, potholes will be fixed when you report them in Waze

There are three certainties in life: Taxes, death, and potholes on Malaysian roads. These deadly indentations have become so common in our society that the more astute driver has already developed the uncanny twitch reactions of a whitewater rafter when it comes to avoiding these deathtraps.

But are we doomed to live forever in fear of these potholes that don invisible cloaks during a thunderstorm? Must we constantly sacrifice our tyre rim covers to appease the pothole deities?

No, young traveler, for there is another Waze.

If you’ll forgive the slightly OTT introduction, popular social navigation application Waze is collaborating with the Selangor State Government in an effort to patch these pesky potholes that plague our roads. Their new movement allows users to use the Waze application to report potholes that they spot on the road.

Unlike traffic jams or accidents where reports can’t immediately improve the situation, Waze says that when you report a pothole on their application, the Selangor State Local Authority will patch the pothole within five days. And that’s pretty good by Malaysian standards, I reckon.

Whether that ends up being the case or not remains to be seen. But we should at least do our part in reporting these potholes. All you need to do when you see a pothole is launch the Waze app (if your app is already open you can skip this step for obvious reasons).

Then tap or hold down on the Reports icon and choose Hazard (the little orange triangle with an exclamation mark icon).

Next, choose On road.

Finally, choose pothole and and press send.

This program will cover all 12 Selangor State Local Authorities which are: Petaling Jaya (MBPJ), Shah Alam (MBSA), Hulu Selangor (MDHS), Kuala Langat (MDKL), Kuala Selangor (MDKS), Sabak Bernam (MDSB), Ampang Jaya (MPAJ), Kajang (MPKJ), Klang (MPK), Selayang (MPS), Sepang (MPSepang) and Subang Jaya (MPSJ).

However, some roads are privately owned or are separately managed by the Public Works Department (Jabatan Kerja Raya), the State District Office (Pejabat Daerah/Tanah), or the Malaysia Highway Authority and Concessionaires.

According to the Smart Selangor Delivery Unit deputy program director Dr Fahmi Ngah, all 19,000 pothole reports that they’ve received via Waze this year have almost all been patched (those that are on Local Authority roads). They also hope that citizens continue to assist the state in filling these potholes.