Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, discusses the scourge of potholes and what councils should do to fix the local road network.
Ask any driver what really grinds their gears, and the state of the roads is surely the most popular answer. Specifically, potholes. They come in all shapes and sizes, no road is immune to them and they’re certain that there are more potholes now than there ever have been.
A very wet end to last year coupled with a very cold start to 2024 brings with it all the hallmarks of new potholes getting ready to burst onto our streets, and existing craters look set to expand and grow. Add to this the perception that local authorities are not doing enough to improve the condition of the local road network means drivers are sick and tired of them.
I’d go so far as to say that potholes aren’t drivers’ biggest pain, but they’re certainly in the top one.
While there may be a certain degree of hyperbole in what I’ve said above, there are real concerns about the conditions of the local road network which effects residents in all four corners of the United Kingdom. First, is the fact that while drivers see potholes as a frustration, cyclists and motorcyclists legitimately worry that a pothole could be fatal, especially when they are covered by standing water. Nobody can be sure what danger lurks beneath the surface. Something BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine found out just before Christmas when he came off his bike due to a deep pothole hidden by a large puddle which he simply couldn’t avoid.
Mr Vine was very fortunate to pedal away from the scene, but sadly others have not been so lucky. The AA has read several Coroner’s reports which have been sent to councils stating that proper maintenance of the road network could have prevented a needless fatality. In the quest for road safety and zero road deaths by 2030, eliminating potholes has an incredibly serious role to play.
Second, is the financial stress that hitting a pothole can cause car driving households during a cost of living crisis, especially when family budgets are already stretched. If you’re lucky only the tyre needs replacing, but costs can quickly escalate if steering rods or suspension arms are damaged by a pothole.
Residents won’t be kind at the ballot box if they believe nothing is being done to improve road surfaces. This is all before we mention other poor road management related annoyances such as worn-out line markings, damaged road signs, overgrown hedgerow obscuring junction sightlines and streetlights illuminated for fewer hours.
We know that council budgets are stretched, roads maintenance has been significantly underfunded for many years, and that other worthy priorities such as funding adult and child social care are necessary, so what can local government do?
The first step is to make proper use of the repurposed HS2 funding which is making its way to council coffers. Rather than a series of ‘patch and run’ repairs, the best way to maintain the structural integrity of the road is to resurface it completely. Using top quality materials and giving avenues longevity will help reduce repairs in the long term.
We’d also like councils to have a uniform approach when it comes to pothole inspections and repair timescales. It seems obscure that a pothole inspected in Leeds could be repaired faster than an identical pothole inspected in Loughborough. Similarly, we need to improve the quality and frequency of inspections on local and rural roads. With new technology available, councils should be willing to test programmes that can analyse road surfaces, report blemishes, and arrange fast repairs.
We also believe the new regulations regarding utilities companies digging up the road will reduce roadworks, while forcing them to restore streets to a better standing than which they found them in. The financial penalties alone should be more than enough to cajole them into improving their current standards.
Finally, we’d like potholes and road surfaces to have greater prominence within local councils. Arguably, the local road network is the largest asset a council owns and is responsible for, yet it always feels as if its status is relegated when there are decisions to be made on funding.
In theory, local roads should be resurfaced once every 20 years, but the AIA Alarm Survey shows the current frequency is once every 116 years. We tell our members that if their street is chosen, they should hold a street party as they’ll never see it again. Those blowing the candles on the cake could wish for better roads.
