Due to the large amount of rain that fell on either side of December’s freezing temperatures, drivers are being warned to expect a surge in potholes.
According to the RAC the weather has created ‘the perfect recipe for potholes to start peppering the roads.’
The road surfaces crumble due to the water which enters cracks expanding when frozen, which has already caused a rise in pothole-related vehicle breakdowns.
A few days ago, This is Money and MailOnline teamed up with JCB to find the biggest pothole in the country, which the companies then pledged to fix for free.
To mark National Pothole Day, MailOnline put out a request for people to nominate the largest road crater in their area.
The readers will then vote which one is the most shocking once the finalists have been revealed.
The recent extreme weather is expected to raise the ‘annoyance’ of potholes.
The RAC responded to an average of 20 call-outs a day for faults such as damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels between October and December last year.
That was an increase from 16 a day during the previous three months.
The figures were released to mark National Pothole day on 15th January.
RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: “The wet weather we’ve had both before and after the coldest start to winter in 12 years in December is the perfect recipe for potholes to start peppering the roads.
“We fear that by the spring, drivers will be plagued by a plethora of potholes across the country’s roads which makes journeys uncomfortable and frustrating or, worse still, could lead to very expensive garage repair bills.”
He stressed the importance of remembering that potholes are “so much more than just an annoyance, they are a true road safety danger”.
Mr Lyes said this was particularly the case for those on two wheels, as potholes represent a “huge risk to their personal safety”.
He added: “There are too many occasions where potholes have been poorly patched up by cash-strapped councils which then return all too quickly.
“It’s frankly absurd that, as a country, we seem unable to get on top of such an age-old problem when roads play such an important role in people’s everyday lives.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We are investing more than £5 billion from 2020 to 2025 into local highways maintenance – including the Potholes Fund announced at the 2020 Budget.
“This will fill millions of potholes a year, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country.”
