The Government has announced that it intends to introduce penalties for businesses that create potholes on the nation’s road network…
Penalties for Potholes
The Government plans on introducing new penalties for utility companies that leave potholes after conducting street works. It believes that they’ll prevent thousands of potholes from appearing each year, whilst ensuring roads are resurfaced to a higher standard. According to the RAC, it responded to a over 10,000 pothole-related breakdowns last year. For perspective, that’s equivalent to 27 breakdowns a day and is the highest annual total since 2018.
The motoring organisation’s Pothole Index suggests that drivers are one-and-a-half times more likely to experience a breakdown after hitting a pothole than were were in 2006. A part of the Government’s plan will be to create a performance-based inspection regime. The worst performing utility firms will face financial penalties, whilst being more closely monitored by local authorities in the future.
‘Protecting Drivers’
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, commented on the new penalties. He said, “the plague of potholes is the menace of our roads. That’s why I’m ensuring companies who create them and leave roads in a poor state can be held to account more easily – protecting drivers from unfair repair costs”.
He continued, “we’ve already invested billions of pounds into roads maintenance, helping local authorities keep their highways well maintained and I’ll continue working to make sure all road-users around the country can enjoy the safe, world-class infrastructure they deserve”.
Nicholas Lyes, the RAC’s head of roads policy, welcomed the changes. He said, “poorly carried out reinstatement work very often leads to road surfaces breaking down, unnecessarily causing potholes much to the annoyance of drivers. Introducing a performance-based inspections scheme should force utilities companies to raise their game and should ultimately lead to smoother and safer journeys for all road users”.
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