Pothole repair voted top priority for local council maintenance, survey shows

IAM survey shows a third of drivers have had their car damaged by a pothole

The latest poll from road safety charity the IAM has shown that 88 per cent of people voted pothole repair the top priority for local council maintenance.

A third of drivers were found to have had their cars damaged by a pothole and a further 16 per cent have been involved in, or have seen an accident caused by a road user hitting a pothole.

Only 14 per cent of people think that their council’s current performance maintaining local roads is good or very good, with more than half rating it as bad or very bad.

When asked what areas of road maintenance were being done well, 50 per cent responded ‘none’, and half also think that the roads in their area are getting worse.

Overall, Welsh respondents are the happiest with council road maintenance, with 27 per cent rating performance as good. Respondents from the South East are the least happy with local road maintenance, with only ten per cent rating it as good, although 18 per cent of Londoners rated their council as good.

IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig said: “The public is unhappy with the state of their roads, although many realise that spending cuts are the real problem."

"80 per cent of those polled thought that local councils should work more closely together to increase efficiency, and with no loosening of the public purse strings in sight it will take partnerships to ensure the backlog in road maintenance does not continue to stack up.”

Further information:
IAM