Government not doing enough to tackle pothole problems

An IAM RoadSmart survey has found that its members are increasingly disillusioned with the state of the roads in the UK and argue that the government is not doing nearly enough to tackle the problem.

7,000 of the road safety charity’s members responded to the survey, with the majority claiming that roads have become much worse in recent years, that there are more potholes than ever before and that they have to swerve to avoid potholes on every journey.

Some 81 per cent say they have noticed ‘many more’ potholes in the past three years, while approximately 90 per cent have spotted a deterioration of some level in the roads they use, with more than 50 per cent rating the state of their roads as ‘much worse’ in the past three years and 38 per cent rating them ‘worse.’

Of equal concern, 47 per cent say they have experienced damage to their car, commercial vehicle, motorbike or bicycle, or personal injury as a result of hitting a pothole.

Mike Quinton, chief executive officer of IAM RoadSmart, said: “IAM RoadSmart is deeply concerned at the safety implications of drivers having to swerve to avoid potholes as well as the high level of damage and injuries revealed by our survey. We are looking to the authorities to work together to produce a long term and sustainable plan to reduce the backlog of road maintenance before yet another damaging winter sets things back even further.

“The figures from our survey are compelling and it is increasingly clear that those who use the roads on a daily basis are pretty much united on this one - enough time has now passed for a long term plan to be in place and for work to have started. As our survey has shown, this is now the motoring public’s number one priority.”