Frustrated motorist creates spoof movies together with Baywatch slow-mo run in effort to disgrace native council to restore potholes
A frustrated motorist shot a Baywatch spoof video as part of an amusing campaign shaming the council for rampant potholes in her area.
Julia Roberts donned full lifeguard gear and used slow motion effects for the hilarious skit, mocking the badly flooded roads.
In the clip, Julia sprints down a rural Buckinghamshire road in a red swimsuit and cap, clutching a red lifeguard float.
Large potholes pockmark the surface and loose gravel lies across the road from shoddy repair attempts.
Next, slow motion footage sees her run through an enormous muddy puddle, still in her swim gear and white trainers.
For the final scene, Julia stands on a ladder in the middle of the puddle and scans around, pretending to look for swimmers struggling in the water.
The clip, called Road Watch, is captioned: ‘Keeping our flooded and crater strewn roads safe, one road at a time!’
But this was just one in a series of videos uploaded to Julia’s social media in her campaign against the potholes, which has amassed millions of views across platforms.
Julia Roberts wore a full lifeguard outfit to shame the council over the terrible state of the roads
She ran down the road, like they run down the beach on Baywatch, to mock the puddles that collect in the holes
Julia also splashed through an enormous puddle in her white trainers
She climbed a ladder and pretended to scout for struggling swimmers
In another, she sits over a pothole with a fishing hook after apparently catching a fish, while joking: ‘Absolutely loving the chance of trialing these wonderful local authority reoccurring fishing lakes.’
She also wears a helmet, high vis jacket and rope in another sketch – then a wetsuit with snorkel as she appears to dive into a pothole.
But beneath the comedy, Julia is delivering a serious message.
The professional presenter, who works with a classic car seller firm, writes: ‘I am using humour to highlight a very serious problem with our roads, but please do not think I am not working to try and make a difference going forward. This is only the beginning.’
Julia has an interest in the state of Britain’s road as she is a keen motorist, evening founding a club, the Coterie Lifestyle Club, to bring likeminded people together.
She warned in another video that the roads are a matter of ‘life and death’ – not just for car users, but also for motorcyclists like herself.
She said: ‘I’m taking my life in my own hands. These roads are dangerous and not fit for purpose.’
In another video, Julia pretended to fish from the pothole to emphasise its size
She also points bemoans that many of the repairs are ineffective, crumbling a short time later, and therefore a waste of money
Elsewhere, Julia highlights how woefully inadequate some repair jobs are, leaving mounds of loose gravel that are supposed to be filling holes.
She said: ‘All I’m trying to do is highlight that these repairs don’t work. It’s a waste of money. Take a look at this road – some have been patched, but they’ve missed others.’
Julia said some repairs last a few weeks – only to disintegrate and cause paint damage or worse.
Thomas Broom, Buckinghamshire Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport, told the Daily Mail: ‘We completely understand the frustrations felt by residents about potholes. As is evident in these videos, we have seen what the Met Office has confirmed as one the wettest Januarys on record.
‘The whole country is seeing a rapid increase in defects emerging and escalating as a result of the persistent rain and freezing temperatures. Prolonged saturation weakens the road surface and sub‑surface layers, meaning defects can form very quickly, particularly on roads that have had previous repairs or utility works.
‘We are working round the clock, having increased the number of repair crews on the network by 50%, prioritising emergencies and urgent safety critical repairs. We have already completed 2,000 urgent repairs this year, that’s a defect repaired every 20 minutes, 24/7 in January.
‘Residents should be aware that a permanent fix is often very difficult in wet and cold conditions, with more expensive repairs likely to fail just as quickly as temporary fixes. That’s why residents will see a lot of temporary repairs until weather allows for a more long-lasting repair, when it will last.
‘Despite the government cutting £44.5 million of funding from Buckinghamshire, we are delivering on our commitment to a £120 million road programme, focussing on long term investment in the network.
‘The budget currently being proposed includes a 17% uplift in capital funding for roads, giving us the resource we need to increase resurfacing works. We will deliver 220 capital resurfacing schemes this financial year and are planning to ramp that up to 270 schemes next year.’
