Potholes costing motorists £1million a day

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http://www.admiral.com/newsArticles/3323/Potholes-%27costing-%C2%A31-million-a-day%27

Potholes 'costing £1 million a day'
08/04/2009

Potholes are costing the British motorist more than £1 million each day, according to research that reveals the damage to cars and the worst-hit places in the UK.

Potholes.co.uk, which maps the extent of the problem around the country, analysed data from 50,000 live insurance policies, and found that the further north a driver lives, the more likely they are to need repair work on their suspension or axles - with an average bill of £240 a time.

In all, the research claims a potential repair bill of £413 million each year is caused by the potholed surface of roads.

And five of the top ten worst areas are in Scotland, with four more in Northern England. By contrast, the areas with the lower failure rates are overwhelmingly found in the South of England.

Worst-ranked Ayrshire sees more than 14% of cars needing repair each year due to the condition of roads, while in top-ranked Oxfordshire only 4.2% of cars need similar treatment.

The calculations come in the wake of a pothole epidemic in February, following the coldest winter in years.

And local authorities, which are responsible for maintaining the road surface, spent more money in 2007 in compensation claims than they did on plugging the holes in the road infrastructure.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association told Admiral Insurance News that the group would be calling for measures to tackle the scale of the problem in the upcoming Budget.

"We estimate the total cost to repair all the potholes across England approaches £1 billion," he added.

"Of course councils would like to fix this problem.

"But to go out and fix all the potholes would be hard in a time of recession, when increasing Council Tax will not be popular."
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Is the last part a joke or what? Surely they have the funds to do this through road tax, petrol duty and council tax? I mean I am not sure which tax/income goes towards the upkeep of roads, but aren't all three high enough already to pay towards it?

Maybe if the councils reduce their spend on speed cameras they could "afford" to fix our roads?

Thoughts? or am I talking nonsense! :D
 
I was under the impression that there is no ring fenced fund for road repairs. Road tax after all is actually called vehicle excise duty...

All the money from VED and petrol tax is actually used to prop up the rest of the public finances.
 
Having been victim to a pothole i know what damage they can do... :(

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Although, i think a lot of the problem is people not reporting them, try this site...
Once i kicked a fuss up about mine it was repaired within 2days
 
Only Motorways and A roads are paid for by the goverment iirc, local roads are councils, and they spend very, very little on them. The problem is that they fill it in but it'll be torn up again after a freeze.

They do resurface entire roads but with the cheapy cheapy way of geting cars to bed in the gravel stones which leaves you with many nice stone chips and 10mph for a mile or two.


I'd got so far to say on many occasions it's dangerous, hitting a pothole and I've seen some big ones at 60miles an hour could cause a serious accident. But oh noes speed kills he should have been doing 40!
 
There's one I've reported on an A road near Whalley, Lancs. It's a single carriageway at 60mph and at the moment but this pot hole is about 2ft long and takes up just more than my tyres width on the right hand side of the road. Most people bounce through it and I find myself getting close to the curb to avoid it. Busses and lorrys seem to jerk sideways when they hit it and a biker must have left a stain in his leathers when he nearly broad sided over it.

The council weren't interested. It'll take an RTA for that to get fixed, I guarantee it. My steering wheel isn't central anymore after hitting it and nobody wants to know about that either.
 
They only have to pay out if it's a hole that was reported to them over 24 hours before you hit it.

So a week before you hit a pothole, get a mate to report it and you'll be able to claim.
 
lol sounds like a plan.........

lucky I do most of my driving in oxfordshire then.

Not that id claim through insurance for suspension. Thats surely wear and tear on the car?
 
BluZiff said:
Not that id claim through insurance for suspension. Thats surely wear and tear on the car?
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its accidental damage , same as running out of skill and plowing into a hedge.

whether or not you'd claim would also depend on the damge. If it meant new suspension etc.. i can understand why people would claim.
 
Lum said:
Not a plan at all. Getting a mate to report the hole and then falsifying the date that you hit it would be considered a fraudulent act and I would strongly recommend that you do not consider it. :D
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Plus you'd need a time machine
 
It would be easier to have your mate report the pothole and if, as you believe, the council don't fix it then drive into the pothole as high speed.
 
I know how you feel - we've just a had the nsf spring break on our MK6 Fiesta, luckily it was just outside our house and we were'nt stuck.

Mechanic rekons its down to the amount of pot holes and speed bumps in our area. Say's three years ago they sold perhaps 2/3 springs per month, now they're selling 25/30 per month.

Dammed annoying though :mad:
 
An Essex parish council wants potholes to be left unfilled for longer to act as a "natural traffic calming" measure.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8001310.stm
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As the parish councillors so rightly say "Repairing potholes is costly and allows motorists to drive faster." and "Potholes are natural traffic calming. If you fill them in, it just allows people to drive faster down these roads. If they're not filled, they have to slow down."

Save money and slow down boy racers - COOL! :D
 
That's frankly outrageous! If it reduces costs, then surely the appropriate tax should be reduced slightly? :)

What if a motorbike hits one? ...I guess "use of speed" will be used as an excuse and the speed limit will be reduced to fall in line with road conditions.

That's like the NHS saying "Well we won't bother helping drug abusers, drunks and old people as they consume resources/cost too much and take up too much room" :D
 
There's a massive pothole on a blind bend just round the road from me on an industrial estate, and whilst the council have repaired nearly all other potholes on the estate, this one (the most dangerous) remains. The road is really lumpy on the same bend, so most people go slowly, but I was caught unawares a week ago and hit it at about 20mph to be greeted with a 'BANG'.

Luckily the car is fine. It's only a matter of time that someone swerves to avoid it when something else is cutting the bend. It really winds me up because it's been like it since I can remember (well actually it got worse recently due to construction traffic).
 
cheets64 said:
What a Daily Mail reading ****, they are a danger to cyclist and motorbikes, so he thinks only cars use the public highway.
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Yeah, that particularly sickens me. It was almost comical watching motorcyclists weaving around the 30 or so severe pot holes on one road on my local industrial estate, except it wasn't because it's bloody dangerous.

Clearly none of these council type ride a motorcycle. I don't find it too much of a problem when I'm on my push bike because I ride near the kerb where there are minimal holes.
 
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