RAT
RUN 2018 - Many of you will have
been inconvenienced by the one way system along Diplocks Way. This means
having to use an alternative route to avoid being snarled in traffic in
the High Street, or having to drive along the A22 north, down to the
next roundabout - and then queue for quite a time to exit into an
overcrowded B road. Nobody likes using this rat-run with all the speed
bumps. It's a relatively new road and it is already potholed along its length.
THE TELEGRAPH 29 JUNE 2024 - BRITAIN'S POTHOLE PROBLEM 'FIVE TIMES WORSE THAN ESTIMATED'
Britain’s roads are riddled with 11.5 million potholes, that is five times higher than previous estimates, according to a campaigner using data from a new
AI dashboard app.
Data gathered by Stan the App, a mobile phone app that uses AI technology to detect and classify potholes, suggests that the true state of Britain’s roads is far worse than previously thought.
Mark Morrell, a veteran anti-pothole campaigner who styles himself as Mr Pothole, said data from Stan the App suggests there are 11.5 million potholes on the UK’s roads.
The news comes after the Asphalt Industry Alliance revealed in March that bringing all of Britain’s roads back up to good condition will cost £16.3 billion, a record high.
CEBR, the economics consultancy, said in April that potholes are costing the economy £14.4
billion a year in lost productivity.
The RAC, the British automotive services company, estimates that there are around 1 million potholes on the nation’s roads at any given moment, while about 2.2 million were repaired in 2023 alone.
Yet, footage collected from Stan the App’s 7,000 users has shown there are 1.5 million defects across just 13 per cent of the UK’s roads that it has mapped to date.
Mr Morrell said this shed fresh light on politicians’ promises to fix Britain’s crumbling highways.
“Finally, AI via Stan the App reflects the true awful condition of our roads,” he said.
“This app gives power to the public to survey the roads they use. I am not surprised by the 11.5 million potholes and defects on existing carriageways. I have been warning about this situation over my 11 years of campaigning.”
“Until the Government and the authorities face up to the massive challenge of resurfacing our roads, it will end up costing more and more.
If nothing is done to reverse the current situation, Mr Morrell claims that in fifteen years from now, more than half of Britain’s roads will have become “structurally unsound”.
The Conservatives pledged to hand £8 billion from the cancellation of HS2 into local councils’ coffers for road repairs, while
Labour has said it will fund those same councils to repair a million road craters every year.
Stan the App uses AI technology to analyse video footage captured by ordinary drivers’ mobile phones.
SMART VISION
Mike Mockford, a spokesman for Metricell, the company behind Stan the App, explained how the free-to-use software works.
“Smart vision is the ability for mobile phones to detect any object,” he said.
The app uses machine learning technology to detect potholes in footage of roads captured by motorists as they drive around the country on their everyday journeys.
“We’ve mapped out 12 per cent of the entire UK,” Mr Mockford said, a figure that has since risen to 13 per cent as more motorists install the app.
Stan the App has so far captured footage of around 45,000 kilometres of highways, ranging from major motorways to quiet B-roads.
As well as simply detecting potholes, the app can also say how wide and deep they are – an important consideration when some councils refuse to fill potholes which are below a certain size.
THE ANSWER TO POTHOLE WOES
Motoring organisations, which have campaigned to improve British roads, welcomed the findings.
Rod Dennis, the RAC’s senior policy officer, said: “Drivers who are sick and tired of negotiating roads peppered with potholes know only too well how bad the problem across the country is – but up until now, there’s been little hard data to back that up.
“That’s all changing with Metricell’s excellent Stan app as for the first time we can see which roads are worst, as well as the local authorities that are doing a better job looking after them.
“What we need now is for the incoming government to address the problem head on.
“As well as more cash for councils, the answer to Britain’s pothole woes is to take preventative steps to extend the life of the roads under their control by surface dressing them to stop potholes forming in the first place.”
WORK IS UNDERWAY
A spokesman from the Department for Transport said it did not recognise the figures, adding that the Government does not collect data on the number of potholes across England.
Claire Holland, the transport spokesperson for the local government association, said: “Councils already invite road users to report highways defects and any new ways that support this and make this easier is helpful.
“Whilst this information will help councils in their planning of road repairs, limited resources and a £16.3 billion backlog of repairs mean councils will need to continue to prioritise according to local circumstances, and want to focus on preventive measures where they can.
“Longer-term, whoever forms the next government should award council Highways Departments with five yearly funding allocations to give more certainty, bringing councils on a par with National Highways so they can develop resurfacing programmes and other highways improvements, tackling the scourge of potholes.”
A spokesperson for National Highways said: “The motorways and major A roads we are responsible for represent around 3 per cent of all roads in England. Our most recent assessment shows that over 96 per cent of them are in good condition.
[Bullshit.
Any driver in the UK can tell you that assessment is utter nonsense.]
“We undertake road condition surveys across our entire network every year and the results are used to identify resurfacing requirements. These defects are categorised and we aim to repair the most serious ones within 24 hours.”
RAC 19 MARCH 2024 - ROADS IN THE UK ARE AT BREAKING POINT AT REPAIR BILLS HIT RECORD HIGH
Roads in England and Wales are at ‘breaking point’ according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) due to potholes.
The AIA Alarm Survey has found that more than half of the local road network in England and Wales could fail in the next 15 years as the amount needed to fix the backlog of repairs reaches a record high of £16.3 billion.
Further analysis of the data found that local authorities are expected to fix more than two million potholes in the current financial year.
This is an increase of 43% compared to the previous 12 months.
It is also the highest total since 2015-16 – where around 2.2 million potholes were fixed in
England and
Wales.
Currently, only 47% of local roads are in ‘good structural condition’ and over 107,000 miles of local roads have less than 15 years’ structural life left in them.
Rick Green, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, which commissions the ALARM survey, said:
“Local authorities have a bit more money to spend this year but the impact of rising costs due to inflation means they have actually been able to do less with it.
“Couple this with the effects of the extreme weather we are increasingly facing, and the result is that the rate at which local roads are suffering is accelerating towards breaking point.
“There’s still a mountain to climb when it comes to fixing our local roads and while it’s great that English local authorities should be getting more money from the Government through its Network North funding, it’s clearly not going to be enough to halt the decline.”
Green continued: “The Transport Secretary (Mark Harper, appointed Secretary of State for Transport on 25 October
2022, elected Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean in May 2005.
Previously serving as Chief Whip [Parliamentary Secretary to the
Treasury] from May 2015 until 14 July 2016 and Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform from May 2010 until September 2012. He served as Minister for Immigration from September 2012 until February 2014 and as Minister for Disabled People from July 2014 until May 2015.
What qualifications does he have to be Trasport Secretary, other than
just political musical chairs?) was quoted as saying that the additional £8.3 billion over 11 years is enough to resurface 5,000 miles of local roads. This sounds like a lot, but not when you consider that there are already more than 34,000 miles identified as structurally poor, with less than five years’ life remaining.
“We need to get to the point where local authority highway engineers can plan and proactively carry out repairs and preventative works in the most timely and efficient way to the greatest benefit of all road users – rather than just having enough money to address immediate and urgent needs.”
Following the release of the report, RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “The findings from this report send the clearest signal yet to the Government of the critical state of so many of the roads used by millions every day.
“By the Government’s own admission, the extra £8.3bn from the cancelled parts of HS2 is only sufficient to resurface around 5,000 miles of road, which is sadly just 3% of all
council-mismanaged roads in England. With this report showing an estimated 107,000 miles of roads are fast reaching the end of their lives, the scale of the problem now facing councils is truly gargantuan.
“The fact government data shows road maintenance is actually declining at a time when the precise opposite is needed, is even further evidence that councils don’t have the funding they need to look after these most important assets.
“The status quo is not sustainable. The longer the Government fails to grasp this reality, the bigger the eventual cost to the public purse.
“Only a commitment to introducing ring-fenced roads funding for councils will get them out of this dire mess. Without it, our roads will only get worse.”
To help highways authorities understand where the problems on their networks are, the RAC has partnered with technology company Metricell which has developed a
free mobile app that uses AI to automatically identify road defects via smartphone
cameras.
After downloading the app, all users have to do is mount their phone safely in a cradle and set it to film the roads as they drive. The results are fed into a national map on the RAC and Stan websites showing the health status of the UK’s roads as either red, amber, or green. The app can also be used to submit photos of potholes and other surface defects.
BREACH
OF CONTRACT
Transport
is the life blood of any nation. According
to our Government website, a modern road network helps traffic move around the country more easily and is essential for economic growth.
The present Conservative Government claim to have set out a long-term funding programme to create smooth, smart and sustainable roads.
They say that their aim is to ensure that highways work is properly
managed.
The
Conservatives are saying one thing and doing another. The proof is in
the pudding. Take a drive around your area and count the potholes. Note
where they are and watch motorists dance around trying to miss the
really bad holes in our roads.
Why
are we still being charged Road Tax, when it is clear that the Tory Government under Theresa
May, Boris
Johnson and now Rishi
Sunack are not conducting themselves in a manner fit to continue
running the country. We'd be better off with Laurel and
Hardy.
Take
a look at these pictures, and maybe take a few of your own - being
careful not to stand in any roads or cause inconvenience to other road
users. Why not write to your MP, or the shadow government. Ask for some
explanation as to where all of our money is going. Do we really need
more nuclear submarines and
aircraft
carriers? Or, do we need decent
roads for our everyday journeys to work and for all of those delivery
drivers trying to get goods moving around the country.
POLITICS -
If the state of an economy can be measured by the condition of the
country's roads, we and neck high in a slurry pit of cow pats. Of course
that is true, as anyone looking at our National Debt can see. But how
did it get so bad? Where has all our income tax gone? Where has our Road
Fund License money gone? Who is taking our money and spending it on
other things we do not need. Is our Government corrupt or simply inept?
LIFE
THREATENING
It's
a blooming miracle that there are not more accidents. Every time you
swerve to avoid damaging your suspension, you are making a maneuver that
could lead to trouble. if you don't take avoiding action, then you will
be damaging your tyres as they impact the sharp lip of these tarmac
craters. That may not puncture your tyre right away, but with every
similar encounter the construction of your rubber interface with our
flexible road surfaces is weakened. Eventually, the carcass will give
way and you will not be able to pinpoint the cause.
What
happens if your tyre blows and cause your vehicle to swerve and hit a
pedestrian or cyclist. How will you feel if you run over a child or
pregnant woman, or a pensioner who is on their way back from the shops -
expecting a safe return home.
You
will be the one feeling bad or being prosecuted - not the state. It
should be the other way around. The State should be prosecuted for
negligence and in some cases: murder.
WEALDEN
MP
Our
MP at the moment is Nusrat
Ghani. It cannot be that she does not know about the mess our roads
are in, but why take a chance. Write to Ms Ghani to get her on the
record so that she is forced to do something about our appalling
highways.
It
is not just our roads. If any government allows such basic facilities as
a road surface to deteriorate to the point where they are dangerous,
what else are they not mending or tending to with due diligence.
We
suspect that potholes are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of taking
money for a service and then using that money for something else - all
the while borrowing to underpin an aura that everything is okay in
Blighty. It is not. You can see it for yourself on this page from a
sample of photographs that were taken on one short trip from Hailsham in
2018.
That was after noticing that potholes have not been repaired, but are
much worse - all except one in Herstmonceux village - on a roundabout
just before/after a school (2018).
FAST
FORWARD TO 2023 - Hailsham is now much worse, with the bridge from
the high street an absolute disgrace, and the roads leading to and from
the roundabout below, literally, death (serious accident) traps waiting
to happen. Why Sussex
police are not prosecuting East Sussex County and Wealden District
Councils, would be something of a mystery, except - and as you probably
know, they are paid by Wealden - hence are not impartial. More the
opposite, down right indebted to the corrupt civil servants that hide
behind closed doors, and rape you financially for rates far in excess of
what any honest council would charge. This is a picture taken in March
2023 on the A271
as you exit Herstmonceux village, down Death Hill, heading toward
Suicide Junction on the right (Silver car).
A
pothole in Church Road, Herstmonceux, in a very dangerous location, when
turning left onto the A271, heading towards the village.
THE
OTHER SIDE -
In
case you did not know it, a rat-run is only popular because the road
planners have got their sums wrong and not made the main roads well
enough, or well planned enough to service local traffic. In this picture
we see the other side of the give-way sign - and yes, sure enough there
are potholes on the other side of the road. How come? Surely, East
Sussex County Council have a schedule of works to repair holes like this
as soon as they appear. You'd think so, but that would involve being
efficient and spending money where it is supposed to be spent. Wealden
are out borrowing money to buy land in Hailsham town centre - in the
process asking the rate payer to fund the interest payments. What then
of ESCC. Are they just as irresponsible? no wonder our Council Tax is
one of the highest in the country.
ROADS
- Potholes
in roads are not only dangerous, but also soak up energy with every bump
that hinders progress. Pothole Politics is the name for policies that
fail to address climate change (sustainable society) issues, but may
apply to our pathetic record on adapting to meet the challenges ahead.
How can we aim to better ourselves if we cannot even maintain the roads
we have.
REPAIRED
ONCE ALREADY - Not a bad blend
in that one, pity it didn't last. This wear and tear may do better with
a stronger repair compound. Who monitors the quality of the tarmac we
use on our roads. Should not high traffic areas have a different mix to
cope without constant repair after repair. Is there not a high speed
repair machine? We certainly need one.
Map
of the Wealden District showing the A21 and A22 as the main arteries for
traffic. All roads in this district are is dire need of a re-vamp if we
are to achieve a sustainable economy.
