Jeremy Vine caller rages over potholes in her area
Pothole incidents have dramatically soared across the UK with incidents climbing back to pre-pandemic levels, according to the AA.
Data shows this year was the worst September for pothole incidents in five years with tens of thousands of road users under threat.
The latest figures from the AA show there were a whopping 47,223 pothole-related breakdowns attended by crews last month.
This is a staggering 10 percent increase from September 2021 and the highest since September 2018.
Meanwhile, AA teams have attended a giant 458,391 pothole-related incidents so far in 2023.
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This is an average of 50,992 incidents per month and would be on course to exceed 2019’s total of 550,876 pothole issues.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, has called on officials to pledge more funds to tackle the issue plaguing road users across the country.
He said: “After a dry start to the month and the hope that our roads would receive some much-needed extra pot-hole maintenance, drivers faced the now familiar challenge of trying to spot potholes lurking beneath the surface of rainwater.
“With family budgets stretched, thousands of drivers have yet again found themselves needing to find extra funds to repair the damage to their car’s tyres, wheels, or suspension components.
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“The trend of pothole-related breakdowns continues to head in the wrong direction and 2023 still looks to be one of the worst years on record for pothole damage, again highlighting the need for more investment in local roads maintenance funding stronger than ever.
“We know that longer-term funding has been pledged from HS2 savings but the Chancellor has the opportunity to give some short-term pothole relief by announcing more cash for roads in his Autumn Statement.
“There is a financial cost to vehicles damaged by potholes but there can be a cost in lives for those on two wheels damaged by potholes.”
Rishi Sunak’s team has already pledged an extra £8billion to fix potholes over the next decade.
The Department for Transport will pour £8.3billion from the scraping of HS2 into the local road maintenance budget.
But, funding will have to wait until early April next year meaning no short-term solutions are in the pipeline.
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