Siberian weather conditions may cause pothole plague, fears RAC

RAC have teamed up with pothole campaigner Mark Morrell to draw attention to the UK’s pothole plague in social media

Siberian weather conditions may cause pothole plague, fears RAC
Image: Bigstock.

The RAC is fearful that roads will suffer further degradation as a result of water having made its way into cracks, freezing and then expanding during last week’s Siberian blast, breaking up surfaces even more.

It previously showed that RAC patrols attended 11 per cent more breakdowns in the last quarter of 2017 that could be attributed to potholes than in the same period in 2016 with a total of 2,830 such breakdowns being logged between October and December 2017 in contrast to 2,547 in the same quarter of 2016.

At this time the RAC claimed the state of the country’s road hung in the balance, with the potential for a further sharp rise in the number of potholes by the spring if the weather was particularly wet or cold.

Continued disruption

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “While the snow caused serious short-term travel disruption, motorists will sadly be suffering its consequences for months and possibly years to come as our roads were already in a poor state of repair before the extreme cold weather hit.

“Unfortunately, Siberian weather was the last thing our roads needed as the freezing conditions wreak havoc with any road surface that is in bad repair.

“We fear that this Spring we may see the emergence of almost as many potholes as daffodils.

“And, although this is the season that is supposed to signal the start of better, warmer weather, this year we think it’s likely to be the start of even worse road surfaces for motorists to drive on.

“Despite a succession of Government ‘Pothole Funds’ the state of the UK roads is still poor.

“Road users find themselves faced with a multitude of different types of potholes and road surface defects, so much so that that these defects are worthy of individual classification in the way that naturalists classify species and categorise sub-species.”

RAC has joined forces with campaigner Mark Morrell, better known as Mr Pothole, to publish ‘The RAC Guide to the Great British Pothole and Other Road Surface Defects’ on National Pothole Day, Thursday 8 March 2018.

Mark Morrell said: “I’ve been campaigning about the state of our roads for five years, but in all that time I can’t remember them ever being worse.

“We all know local authorities are cash-strapped but they also have a duty to provide road surfaces that are fit for purpose which many sadly aren’t.

“I hope this guide through a little humour might help to focus minds as the state of our roads is truly becoming a national embarrassment.

“There is, of course, a risk that we’ll become as obsessed with potholes as we are with the weather.”

“Costing motorists thousands”

The RAC’s Simon Williams added: “Potholes are without doubt a menace for drivers, and indeed for all road users, as they create a totally unnecessary road safety danger as well as costing motorists thousands of pounds in expensive repairs to their vehicles.

“Our own estimates put the cost to drivers at around £100 million a year.

“Behind ‘The RAC Guide to the Great British Pothole and Other Road Surface Defects’ is a serious message to the Government: give local authorities the certainty of sufficient ring-fenced, long-term funding to enable them to bring all of the UK’s roads up to a standard that is fit-for purpose.

“The Asphalt Industry Alliance estimates the one-off cost of fixing the UK’s roads to be £12 billion.

“We need the Government to develop a long-term funding strategy to find this sum over a period of five to 10 years; for example, ring-fencing  five pence a litre from fuel duty revenue over five years would address the backlog by raising almost £12 billion.

“Drivers contribute in excess of £40 billion in motoring taxation a year and many feel they should not have to endure substandard roads as a result.”

To view the RAC Guide to the Great British Pothole and Other Road Surface Defects click “more details” below.

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