The pothole dispute: who is to blame?

According to new research, the number of road accident claims regarding potholes is higher in the North of England and Scotland than in the South.

According to new research by car insurance provider Warranty Direct, there are more potholes in the North than in the South.

The research revealed that 90 per cent of the places identified as the worst for pothole related suspension failure and axle, are in the North and Scotland.

In Ayrshire, Scotland, it was found that 14 per cent of vehicles required repairs as a result of damage related to potholes, compared with just four per cent in Oxfordshire.

Duncan McClure Fisher, managing director of Warranty Direct said: "It's incredible how clear a North-South divide these figures appear to show.

Whether this is due to colder weather causing more northern roads to crack or just poor maintenance, it seems to underline a clear difference in the condition of highways across the country."

Last year, £53 million was spent on pothole compensation with just £52.3 million spent on repairing them.

It is up to the councils and authorities to ensure that potholes are repaired.

Yet with the growing number of potholes around Scotland and Northern England, it can only be suggested that the authorities are not taking enough action to prevent them from coming back.

Council's repairs
Edmund King, president of AA Insurance stated that the local authorities attempts to maintain the roads has "lagged by an ever-increasing amount."

He said: "In recent years local authorities have blitzed potholes by filling them as they appear. Some 853,6141 potholes were filled in last year.

However, restoring the road surface and stopping the re-emergence of potholes through proper maintenance has lagged by an ever-increasing amount."

And with the number of potholes around Britain aggravated after the cold snap we faced earlier this year, the number of public liability claims made related to potholes is expected to soar.

Claims expected to increase
February's cold snap has led to an estimated 40 per cent rise in the number of potholes. As a result, pothole figures have been pushed up to 1.5 million within just a matter of weeks.

Consequently, with the potholes causing more damage to vehicles, the number of insurance claims is expected to rise. This would also lead to a growing number of compensation claims as poor road maintenance leads to more road accidents.

King said: "Claims against highway authorities and car insurance companies are expected to soar way above normal this year."

He stated that "AA Insurance has received more than three times as many claims for pothole damage to wheels, particularly alloy wheels with low-profile tyres."

He also said that potholes filled with water are particularly dangerous as they are usually disguised and hidden.

He said: "Water-filled potholes are a real hazard- the AA has seen claims where the driver simply thought it was a puddle."

As a result, motorists are more likely to sustain injuries such as whiplash as an increased number of potholes leads to an increase in the number of car accidents.