£2.8 billion vehicle repairs show roads in Britain are going to pot
Potholes in British roads cost motorists £2.8 billion in repairs, according to a survey released today.
The report showed that almost a third of the mechanical failures that plague drivers in Britain are caused by the jolting impacts of driving over craters, cracks and uneven road surfaces. By contrast, only an eighth of mechanical problems in cars using the far larger road network in the United States were caused by potholes.
The figures were collated by the insurance firm, Warranty Direct, and based on repairs to 500,000 cars on both sides of the Atlantic.
The average cost to an individual motorist was £285 in repairs to axle, suspension and steering, though in the worst case the driver of one Volvo S60 received a bill of £950.84. The survey found that some apparently robust 4x4 vehicles were as likely to suffer the pitfalls of the British road network.
According to its British dealers, the Jeep Cherokee is “just as at ease on the normal road as it is on forest trails and mountain passes — it can handle all terrain and conditions”. However, the survey showed that British roads were a challenge and 53 per cent of Cherokees that suffered mechanical failures had been damaged after being driven over rutted roads. Jeeps of any class appeared the most susceptible to damage due to uneven roads: just over 47 per cent of failures in these vehicles was due to the poor state of the road.
In the US, on average, only 12.9 per cent of failures were attributed to potholes, compared with 30.5 per cent of cases in Britain.
In some models the contrast was far greater. Only 10 per cent of Audi A4 repairs were blamed on road surfaces in the US, compared with nearly half of repairs required in Britain.
Recent reports have suggest that potholes are proliferating. Highways authorities face a rising bill for compensation from drivers, draining budgets that might have been spent filling the holes that caused the damage. Last year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey reported that one million potholes were filled each year, at a cost of £56 million.
At the same time, however, drivers claiming damages for mechanical failures due to potholes had risen by 78 per cent; £50 million is being paid each year in compensation for damage to vehicles or traffic accidents due to structural damage.
Paul Watters, the AA’s head of roads and transportation policy, said: “Motorists are paying a huge amount more at the pump and the Treasury has received a massive windfall in VAT alone. It begs the question of whether \ are getting value for money.”
The Highways Agency said that data it published in 2007 “based on machine-based surveys of the surface of English motorways and all-purpose trunk roads show these roads to be in very good condition”.
Research has shown that the annual average repair bill for cars damaged by speed humps is £235. An earlier survey from Warranty Direct showed that, during the past decade, one in eight cars had suffered suspension damage that could be attributed to humps, often described as “inverted potholes”.
Source: Times Online
http://www.motortrader.com/26410/Pothole-misery-for-UK-motorist.ehtml
http://www.easier.com/view/News/Motoring/article-155365.html
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