. >> california investigative correspondent julie watts investigates why and shows us which local freeways are the worst. >> . >> i was so sad i wasn't going to see my mom and take her to dinner. >> reporter: angie ruben tries to visit her home in the retirement home every week. angie's moment is golden era hollywood actress kathleen hugh. kathleen looks forward to her daughter's visits and so does angie, but on one april saturday -- >> it just ripped the tire to shreds. >> reporter: -- a pothole kept angie from her mom. >> i had to wobble over, super, super dangerous with cars all around. i had ptsd for the longest time. >> reporter: a tow truck brought her car to a nearby dealer for repairs. she learned she wasn't the first to hit that pothole. >> he's like oh, yeah, we know that pothole. >> reporter: cbs news california got the cal trains data and we dug into it finding statewide drivers filed more than 30,000 damage claims on california freeways in the last five years and it's getting worse, with claims tripling to more than 12,000 in the first half of last year. why? data indicates in