Condition of GB roads
 

I passed my driving test in June 1972 and had my first car at 18 in August of 1973 - a Vauxhall Victor FB. Both in it and all subsequent cars I have broken very few springs:


Triunph 2000TC around 1985 - rear spring
Bentley Turbo R - front spring around 2007
MG ZT CDTi n/s rear spring around 2018 / 19
MGZT CDTI same car in 2021 - two drop links required replacing and the other o/s rear spring
Also my sons 2014 Vauxhall Corsa SE required a spring replacement.


Up until the pandemic i drove around 25k miles in the ZT each year but this has halved in the last 12 months but pot holes including on some 'A' roads seem to have proliferated.



Are the roads deteriorating?

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Driving is now a constant game of having your eye on the road and having your other eye on the potholes on the road. In Edinburgh they are particularly bad and have definitely deteriorated since I started driving around 12 years ago. If I go out in the smaller car, it's like being on a roller-coaster at times and that's with all new shocks and springs. It really does take some of the fun out of driving.

There is a road a few miles from my house that used to be minor road to a golf course and then on to a small village. A couple of years ago they decided to put another off point the local bypass to link this road as a bit of a rat run and off course there is numerous new building projects that this road now has to take all the traffic from.

It has go to the point that this road is so bad that unless you take a certain route you are likely to either damage a tyre, wheel or your suspension. Numerous people have rung the council because of damage and they are aware of the problem but are unlikely to do anything until all the major building has been finished so as not cause any disruption.

I would have thought putting a new road down before all this extra traffic started using the road would have been the easiest option and hardly any disruption or am I missing something?

Hi,even worse for us bikers,hitting a pothole on a motorbike is a life lottery,not to mention debris thrown out of ignorant divers,or a dead animal,badgers are bigger than they seem on telly.Even dual carriageways are crumbling away.So if you see a biker in front of you suddenly swerve expect a possible pothole.Regards Ry.....

For most councils it's cheaper to pay out those that actually claim for damage, than repair the roads. Changing the road fund tax to excise duty allowed government to do as they wished with the money collected, and as usual they screwed the motorist, that along with cheap or even free tax cars is why our roads are like a middle eastern country after a visit from the Americans. The financial impact of covid probably means repairs won't be made any time soon, and more damage and deaths will occur ( like when America visits) Mabey if it were cheaper to repair the roads than pay out claims, things would change.

On the way to my daughters I use lane 2 of a dual carriageway as lane 1 is so bad.
I wont even go the same way as my wife to our daughters as the route she likes is so bad.

I don't think our roads are getting any better and are getting worse. Some drivers for some reason even when they have time and space do not avoid potholes thus making them worse.

macafee2

I have just remembered, a friend decided to sell his BMW because of wheel damage, anything more than a small pothole would crack a rim, small cracks can be welded but longer than a couple of inches turned them into scrap. He managed to get one from a council claim but with the amount of problems he had getting the claim sorted he decided it was not worth it, by the time he had sold the car it had 3 wheels repaired and one new one and he had spare for when it happened again. New wheels from BMW were £500 ish and apparently they sell a lot of them.

The German rail company that "won" a contract to provide trains for the UK built a special rail track due to poor standards. Many vehicle manufacturers do special suspension kits for cars destined for the UK due to very poor road conditions compared to the continent.

e-Mail Grant Shapps as he is the chap who will sort it

Kev

The council (local, unitary or met) could stipulate to the developer that the road be built/upgraded first and resurfaced when all is finished or THIER development plans won't get passed.

The longer a resurface is, then the cheaper it is.

Kev