Britain’s roads have become the “number one issue” for drivers, businesses and the economy, the president of the AA, Edmund King OBE, has warned.
Speaking on the AA Cars-sponsored YouTube channel, The Logbook, Mr King said that motorists are paying billions into the Treasury, while too many roads remain dangerous, badly repaired and roadworks poorly coordinated, and that added the country risks treating roads as a “periphery issue” when, in reality, they are fundamental to everyday life and the economy.
“Our country without roads is nothing. Ninety per cent of freight goes by road and 86% of passenger journeys are by road. If we didn’t have the roads, the country would be at a standstill,” Mr King said. “There would be no goods in our shops, no exports, and people wouldn’t get to work. This isn’t a periphery issue — this is the number one issue.”
On potholes, Mr King said drivers were paying the price for a failed “patch and run” approach, where holes are filled badly and return within weeks: “It is the number one transport issue for 96% of drivers. At The AA we see it first-hand. Last year our patrols were called out to 617,000 pothole-related incidents — punctures, damaged wheels, steering and suspension damage. For drivers, it is the worst feeling: dark nights, wet roads, puddles, you can’t see the pothole, and then you hear the bang.”
Mr King called for councils and central government to move away from reactive repairs and towards proper road maintenance, resurfacing, and better use of technology.
“You can’t just keep filling in holes if the road has gone,” Transport + Energy quotes him as saying. “You need to resurface that section of road. In the long term that is more cost-effective because you are called out less often, there are fewer compensation claims and the repair lasts longer. It is not rocket science to fix the roads, and yet we are doing a bad job of it.”
On roadworks, Mr King said too many schemes showed a lack of coordination between councils and utility companies, with newly resurfaced roads sometimes dug up again weeks later, commenting that Britain needs stronger strategic leadership on transport and cars and a clear “champion of the roads”.
(Picture: Highways News)
