IAM pothole repair plea

IAM RoadSmart and Cycling UK have issued a ‘pothole plea’ to central government to prioritise residents’ safety by providing funding to local councils to repair defective roads, ‘as a matter of urgency’.

IAM RoadSmart claims to have ‘outed’ the ‘pothole plagued regions where cyclists are most likely to encounter cavities in the road’ – with Surrey and Hampshire topping the list.

Research shared with the charity suggests that there have been ‘a staggering’ 196,762 cases of hazardous holes in the road reported by cyclists on Cycling UK’s ‘Fill That Hole’ feature, which allows cyclists to report potholes and other road defects to local councils.

IAM RoadSmart says this equates to, on average, a defect every 110 metres of UK roads. Of this number, only one in five (22%) have been reported as repaired by local highway authorities.

With 10,624 reports of potholes, Surrey is the highway authority where people cycling are most likely to report road defects, while Hampshire follows behind with 6,692. Respectively, only 14% and 15% of these holes have been reported as fixed.

IAM RoadSmart says cyclists in Essex and Lancashire have also ‘fallen victim to Britain’s crumbling roads’, with 4,961 and 4,741 holes in the road respectively being reported, and only 20% of these being fixed in both regions.