It has been revealed today, on National Pothole Day, that drivers have voted potholes the most annoying thing about driving. This comes from research by building material company Tarmac, who surveyed 2,000 road users. They found potholes to be rated as more irritating than tailgaters, breaking down, and failure to indicate.
According to this survey 8 in 10 road users admit they navigate themselves around potholes during every journey. 43% of drivers have also even had their cars damaged a pothole.
“Potholes may seem like a minor problem, but they cause millions of people financial and physical damage each year”
Paul Fleetham, Managing Director of contracting at Tarmac
Why is there a National Pothole day?
National Pothole Day was established in 2015, to bring attention to the ever growing issues our roads face. Today, on the day’s 5th anniversary, almost 50% of the UK believe our roads have now reached crisis point.
The day is the creation of ‘Mr Pothole’ and ‘Street Repairs’ with the aim to raise public awareness, and encourage potholes to be reported.
James Hardy, Paralegal in the Wosskow Brown Personal Injury team, said: “Potholes have long been the scourge of the motorist. Living in Sheffield, we are more than familiar with this and the expense and inconvenience they cause”.
“As a keen cyclist myself, I am also very aware of the dangers of pot holes and injuries that can result as a consequence of them”, he added. The above research indicated that a fifth of pothole-related incidents resulted in a vehicle collision. Therefore this ‘pothole crisis’ can also be considered a risk to road user safety.
Government funding needed to tackle the ‘crisis’
Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) have called on the government to allocate an addition £15bn to tackle the UK’s pothole epidemic.
AIA Chair, Rick Green, explains: ‘We’ve been calling for £1.5 billion extra per year for the next 10 years to bring local road conditions up to a level from which they can be maintained cost-effectively going forward.’
The AIA’s 2019 ALARM survey reported local authorities now need £9.8 billion to bring the network up to scratch. However all work cannot be carried out at once. This would mean parts of the network continuing to deteriorate in the meantime.
This is why the AIA is calling for a sustained 10-year period of additional £1.5 billion per annum investment. “What’s needed is investment in effective road maintenance, which will improve the conditions of our roads and help prevent potholes from forming in the first place”.
