Motoring group warns of rising damage caused by potholes

THE PROPORTION of vehicle breakdowns caused by potholerelated damage has more than doubled over the past decade, according to a study.

Thousands of motorists require assistance each month for issues such as broken shock absorbers or faulty suspension springs, the RAC said.

In the 12 months to June some 0.9 per cent of its 2.4 million breakdown call outs were due to such damage, compared to just 0.4 per cent over the same period to June 2006. There was a sudden rise in pothole damage between 2007 and 2009, when the proportion of incidents rose from 0.5 per cent to 1.1 per cent.

RAC chief engineer David Bizley said: “This analysis suggests that the quality of the UK’s roads suffered a steady decline from the start of 2007 through to the end of 2009, presumably due to lack of investment in maintenance and resurfacing during worsening economic times. Since then, injections of short-term funding have addressed the immediate aftermath of periods of extreme weather but have not been sufficient to tackle the underlying problem.”