…including the Introduction of 5-Year Warranties on Pothole Repairs

On National Pothole Day, the “Pothole Partnership”, which is supported by the British Motorcyclists Federation, has called for a radical new approach to fixing potholes to protect all road users from the significant safety risks presented by the continuing poor state of the UK’s roads and, in particular, from the scourge of potholes across the UK’s road network which present a heightened danger to the safety and wellbeing of motorcyclists.

The Pothole Partnership – founded by the AA, JCB, British Cycling, and the National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) and supported by the BMF since its inception – is today calling for a step change in road maintenance standards and a minimum five-year warranty issued for every non-emergency pothole repair. Despite billions of pounds allocated to pothole repairs by successive governments, the latest data released by the AA has revealed a continuing high level of call-outs to pothole related incidents as local authorities fail to get a grip of the continuing pothole problem. In response, the Government has recently announced a new “traffic light rating” system to allow the public to see how well their particular council is tackling potholes in their area. However, the Pothole Partnership believes that a more radical response is needed if Local Authorities are to be properly held to account to ensure that road repairs are carried out to a high standard, with Councils moving away from a “patch and dash” approach to fixing potholes, where repairs often fail only weeks after a pothole has been purportedly fixed.

Jim Freeman the Chair of the British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) said:

“The BMF continues to receive reports from our members with regard to injuries they have suffered, and damage that has occurred to their bikes, as a direct result of potholes. Despite the allocation by government of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to fix the pothole problem progress has been slow, not helped by a continuing focus by local authorities on temporary repairs rather than more permanent solutions. A pothole that can damage a car can have much more serious consequences for a motorcyclist, causing life-changing injuries or worse. Councils need once and for all to get a firm grip of this continuing problem and sort their roads out to improve the safety of all road users. The BMF supports the call by the Pothole Partnership for a radical new change to pothole repairs, whereby contractors are compelled to issue 5-year warranties on pothole repairs and to make greater use of new innovations in road repair, such as the JCB Pothole Pro which can help to ensure that pothole repairs are carried out quickly, safely and permanently. The Department For Transport’s decision to move to a “traffic-light rating” system to bring deliver greater Council accountability for repairs is a welcome move, but endless patch and repatch pothole repairs are continuing to put the lives and livelihoods of road users at risk. This is not acceptable. A new approach is now needed”

To read the National Motorcyclists Council article click here

Written by Paul Morgan CBE

BMF Government Relations Executive

Top image courtesy of Peter Henshaw