Pothole damage soars on crumbling roads

Pothole damage to cars has surged since the start of this year, figures show, despite a dry and mild winter that would normally bring a reduction in breakdowns. The RAC said the condition of minor roads was on a “knife edge” and one season of cold and wet weather could make it worse than ever. It dealt with 6,500 breakdowns probably linked to poor road surfaces from January to March, a rise of 61.4 per cent on last year.

POTHOLE damage to cars has surged since the start of this year, figures show, despite a dry and mild winter that would normally bring a reduction in breakdowns.

The RAC said the condition of minor roads was on a “knife edge” and one season of cold and wet weather could make it worse than ever.

It dealt with 6,500 breakdowns that were probably linked to poor road surfaces from January to March, an increase of 61.4 per cent on the same period last year. This included broken suspension springs, damaged shock absorbers and distorted wheels.

Dry weather usually offers a welcome respite for the roads, giving highway workers the chance to patch up the worst potholes.

The RAC described the figures as a major concern because it expected the mild and comparatively dry winter to lead to a reduction in incidents.

“Our figures sadly show a surprising and unwelcome first-quarter rise in the number of breakdowns where the poor quality of the road surface was a major factor,” said David Bizley, the RAC chief engineer. “We had expected a figure no worse than that recorded in the first quarter of 2016 [4,026], and it is very concerning that the roads, strangely, appear to have deteriorated in a mild, comparatively dry winter.”

A recent study by the Ashphalt Industry Alliance found that local authorities needed more than £12 billion of funding to bring the road network up to scratch.

The gap between the amount that councils say they received in the past year and what they require to keep roads in reasonable order is almost £730 million.

The last time the RAC recorded as many pothole-related defects was in the first quarter of 2015.

Mr Bizley added: “We still have a long way to go to ensure the whole road network – not just our major roads, which are enjoying one of the largest investment programmes in a generation – are really fit for purpose.

“Certainly anyone that has experienced a breakdown as a result of hitting a pothole will know just how frustrating that can be, not to say dangerous and expensive if damage to their vehicle is sustained.

“The backlog in preventative maintenance reported by the survey suggests we are on a knife edge and it will only take one season of poor weather to take us back to where we were a few years ago.”

The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 town halls in England and Wales, says that councils fix a pothole about every 19 seconds, amounting to 1.75 million per year.

The RAC warned of pothole numbers increasing at an “unprecedented rate” after it released its last batch of breakdown data at the start of the year.