Half of IAM RoadSmart members have suffered from potholes as the majority report growing numbers of potholes on the roads.
Research by the road safety charity carried out among more than 7,000 members found 47% – over 3,400 respondents – say they have experienced damage to their car, commercial vehicle, motorbike or bicycle or personal injury as a result of hitting a pothole.
Around 90% have spotted a deterioration of some level in the roads they use with just over 50% rating the state of their roads as ‘much worse’ in the past three years and 38% rating them ‘worse.’ And a total of 94% have reported noticing more potholes in the last threeyears.
More than 56% say they have to take avoiding action on every journey to dodge potholes, while 27% say they have to steer around a pothole every day.
Yet although a third of IAM RoadSmart members are willing to consider new funding ideas to help improve our roads, half were against a 2p increase in fuel duty and most of those were strongly opposed.
Mike Quinton, chief executive officer of IAM RoadSmart, said: “The figures from our survey are compelling and it is increasingly clear that those who use the roads on a daily basis are pretty much united on this one – enough time has now passed for a long-term plan to be in place and for work to have started. As our survey has shown, this is now the motoring public’s number one priority.
“We are looking to the authorities to work together to produce a long term and sustainable plan to reduce the backlog of road maintenance before yet another damaging winter sets things back even further.”
