Imagine you are driving down a road, it is slightly windy and night is drawing in. Your radio is playing softly and you’re heading home from work. Then “bam!” the car dips with a loud bang and you hear the wheel making that annoying tell-tale noise of a flat tyre. There is no one around and no signal on your phone, what to do? Well luckily you may have a spare wheel in your boot or maybe a flat tyre repair kit, but do you know how to use it?

 

Everyday people hit potholes which have varying depths, shapes and impacts. It is estimated that there are over a million potholes in the UK and in November 2022 there were 225 extra breakdowns per day due to potholes on the roads. Additionally, in April 2023 the AA attended more than 52,000 pothole related incidents alone. So the facts say potholes are bad, the people say potholes are bad, but what do the government do about it? Nothing.

 

To report a pothole the hole in question must be at least one inch and the reporter must have pictures of the pothole with a tape measure against it. First of all, this is highly dangerous as some roads may not have pavements, or are constantly busy all through the day and there may be no way of getting a photo. We wouldn't risk our lives for a pothole, so the potholes stay on the road and our bank accounts drastically decrease. The Government needs to take action, or our roads will forever be journeys where pot luck decides whether our cars survive and how much money we have to lose to cover the damage. 

 

But what causes these devilish potholes to form? There are several culprits that cause the road surface to weaken, crack and create a pothole; wear and tear, extreme weather, poor drainage, improper maintenance and substandard materials. These are all things, we as humans and the government, can try to control or help prevent from occurring and make our roads safer. At the end of the day no one likes a pothole.