The RAC recently reported that breakdowns caused by potholes spiked by 37% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period last year. Additionally, they have already attended three times more pothole strikes this year than in the last quarter of 2020, the fastest rise between quarters ever recorded.
52 incidents a day.
Hitting a pothole can cause serious damage to a vehicle, buckling alloy wheels, snapping springs, and destroying shock absorbers. Since January the RAC have logged 4,694 incidents which were caused by potholes, a staggering average of 52 incidents a day. This is particularly striking when considering that due to lockdown and the growing shift to working from home total journeys are markedly down.
Lack of maintenance.
Winter has exacerbated the problem, with plunging temperatures causing water to freeze and expand in existing cracks, widening them. But the real problem is lack of maintenance, often caused by confusion as to who is actually responsible for carrying out necessary repairs. The RAC’s Nicholas Lyes colourfully described the conditions of some roads as ‘resembling the surface of the moon’ and called on the government to do more to fix the situation. He also cautioned that road surfaces are likely to deteriorate further as lockdown rules are relaxed and roads become busier again.
Pothole repair fund.
The government seems to be aware of the problem, creating a £2.5bn pothole repair fund for the 20/21 to 24/25 financial years. This is welcome news for motorists concerned by the increasingly desperate condition of British roads but, as Nicholas Lyes put it: ‘potholes are a sign of broken roads, but they are also a sign of the broken nature of how the roads are looked after and paid for’.
Until more robust systems are put in place for ensuring roads are maintained to a decent standard and damage is repaired in a timely fashion, additional funding is likely to only paper over the cracks.