An app to report potholes

The RAC Foundation, having made Freedom of Information Act requests of 207 local highway authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, discovered that the presence of potholes led to a 5% increase in road traffic accident claims in 2013-14, though only a quarter of these resulted in compensation for injured road users.

According to the RAC Foundation, councils estimate that repairs to the tune of £12 million are needed if England’s roads are to be brought up to scratch. Meanwhile, 9 out of 10 passenger miles continue to take place on roads as opposed to other transport networks.

How you can take action

In our earlier blog post, we provided some links to local councils’ websites and numbers for local Highway Enquiries Teams. However, there are other ways of reporting potholes.

Potholes can cause life-changing injuries to cyclists in particular. CTC, the national cycling charity, set up the “Fill that Hole” website which enables members of the public (whether they be cyclists or not) to report potholes. It’s easy to use and made even easier recently by the introduction of the (free) “Fill that Hole” app. There is no need to know the name of the offending highway authority as the website/app does that for you, immediately conveying up-to-the-minute information to the relevant local councils.

Louise Huckstep says, “We see a lot of cases where road users, particularly cyclists and pedestrians, are injured as a result of potholes. I cannot over-emphasize how important it is to report them – it may feel like a small task, but when you report a pothole, you may be helping to prevent a life-altering accident.”