Hope on the Holey horizon perhaps
The AA forms a pothole partnership to help solve the ‘hole’ problem
Lucy England
The AA has started a partnership and produced a five point plan to tackle the UK’s pothole crisis.
The National Motorcyclists Council, JCB, British Cycling, IAM RoadSmart and the British Motorcyclists Federation, have all been invited to join the partnership by the AA, as they are all interested parties in the state of our roads - as we all are in fact.
The AAs Pothole index shows that car and motorcycle damage in 2023 from the terrible state of the roads, was worse than it has been for five years. The estimated damage to vehicles in 2023 was approximately a staggering £474 million – and the data was released, in a timely manner, on National Pothole Day, January the 15th.
The AA alone dealt with 631,852 pothole related incidents in2023, the highest for five years. In addition, the RAC went out to 5,153 breakdowns caused by vehicles hitting potholes between October and December, making 2023’s fourth quarter of the year the worst for pothole-related breakdowns since 2017.
In response to these terrible figures, a five point pothole plan has been drawn up and sent to the government.
Here’s what it suggests:
Permanent: Local authorities should limit the practice of temporary pothole repairs or patches and permanently repair them instead.
Precise: All interested parties i.e. local authorities and contractors should stick to UK-wide repair and inspection standards, and make and annual report on the pothole repairs completed that year.
Price: The government should demonstrate greater urgency in the matter. Speeding up spending the £8.3bn pothole funding (money re-allocated when the second phase of HS2 was cancelled) in the first three years. Plus there should be total clarity on the distribution to local authorities.
Provision: Central and local government should guarantee that they are ring-fencing all road maintenance funding in order to deliver innovations that enable permanent repairs.
Progress: Local authorities should give full transparency on their road repair backlog regarding pothole patching works and road re-surfacing.
So, in a nutshell, just really use common sense, stop doing inadequate temporary pothole patches, as the pothole will just come back with a vengeance, and ensure that all the repairs undertaken are permanent, so that they will last. Clearly this will save money in the long run. Local authorities should keep a close eye on their local roads and hopefully pre-empt the worse potholes from forming, or, at the very least, spot them and fix them fast and report every year on how many repairs they have done in that year. The government should get their skates on and put the HS2 money into action to solve the problem before it gets even worse, plus guaranteeing that they won’t erode the money away for other projects and will keep it solely for the purpose of road maintenance.
Edmund King, AA President, said:
“Last year AA patrols dealt with more than 600,000 pothole-related incidents which on a national scale will have cost drivers almost half a billion pounds. Currently, we often have a vicious circle of: pothole formed; damage caused; pothole patched; pothole reappears with more damage caused - when what we need are more permanent repairs. Potholes are the number one concern for 96% of drivers and can be fatal for those on two wheels so hopefully pressure from the Pothole Partnership will lead to permanent repairs.”
Craig Carey-Clinch, Executive Director, National Motorcyclists Council, said:
“The situation is becoming ever more acute for motorcyclists. Potholes and other road surface related defects are already shown to be extremely dangerous for motorcycle riders. The same pothole that damages a car, could prove fatal to a rider. Action is needed now to urgently clear the backlog of repairs. The NMC fully supports the Pothole Partnership and urges the Government to front load the £8.3billion that has been announced. The problem is now, not in seven or nine years time.”
This all sounds quite positive and hopeful so let’s just hope the government sits up, takes notice and implements the plan.
Do you have any comments on this initiative? Let us know on Facebook if so. Cheers!
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