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news
Pothole claims from cyclists cost councils 25 times more than those from drivers (+ video)
New research from Cycling UK, published as it launches its inaugural Pothole Watch Week, shows that pothole claims from cyclists cost councils 25 times more to settle in terms of compensation and legal costs than ones from motorists do.
The charity said that on average, claims from cyclists each cost £88,000 to settle, with £45 million in total paid out during the past five years.
The figures have been compiled following a Freedom of Information request and have been published to coincide with the inaugural Pothole Watch Week which aims to raise awareness of the problem.
Some 156 highways authorities responded out of the 211 contacted, with the average amount paid to motorists being £338 while for cyclists it was £8,825.
As Cycling UK points out, the reason for the huge discrepancy in payouts to cyclists compared to drivers is because while motorists are likely to be claiming for damage to vehicles, for bike riders compensation is much more likely to be sought for bodily injury – and even death.
Official figures show that since 2007, at least 431 cyclists have been killed or seriously injured in Great Britain as a result of poor road surfaces, including potholes.
With the trade association the Asphalt Industry Alliance estimating that it would cost £9.3 billion just to repair existing potholes on British roads, Cycling UK is calling on the government to invest some of the £25 billion committed to building and maintaining motorways and trunk roads in making good road defects.
“Cyclists are running the gauntlet when riding on British roads following a decade of underinvestment leading to the poor state they’re currently in,” said the charity’s CEO, Paul Tuohy.
“Potholes aren’t just an expensive nuisance, they are ruining lives.
“The government is going to spend £25 billion on maintaining and building new motorways, while effectively each year it finds some loose change for the problem of potholes on local roads,” he continued.
“Cycling UK wants government to adopt a ‘fix it first’ policy. Let's repair the local roads first – the ones we all use in our cars and on our bikes everyday – before building new motorways.
“Through Pothole Watch, I want to encourage the wider public to help councils by reporting potholes and helping them identify where the problems are – then they can start fixing them,” he added.
Cycling UK is urging road users to report defects to the relevant authorities using its Fill That Hole app and website, pointing out that flagging them up in this way can highlight potholes that need repairing that they may not yet be aware of.
It has also produced a video to coincide with the launch of Pothole Watch Week that features cyclist Stephen Greenham, who was injured when he hit a pothole while riding downhill in Buckinghamshire last year.
He said: “I was just cycling along the road and just starting to go downhill and beginning to pick up speed, when suddenly there was this instant when the whole bike jumped up.
“I was thrown up into the air and off the bike – the whole thing was a bit of a blur. When I hit the pothole I was travelling about 20 mph.
“In total, it took about 10-11 weeks before I was fully able to ride a bike again.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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20 comments
We need a Road Tax
An extra 5p in the £ income tax would go a long way to improve the NHS, an extra 2p would really help education, a few extra pennies are needed to fund adequate social care. An extra 1p for roads is small change. While we are at it a few more plod might make things safer on the streets and an above inflation council tax rise could really help reverse those funding cuts to libraries and other services. Surely nobody could doubt your desire to make the country a better place.
Now put that lot in a manifesto and see how many votes you get.
Can I not do it on a personal basis?
I give a couple of quid to a homeless and I feel less bad about my £400 curtains.
I'll always put a tenner in the charity box in Waitrose, sometimes I won't even look at the charity.
I'm always available to do my bit for the local school/hospital.
I employ a lovely Lithuanian girl to do some jobs around the house.
I do my bit, there should be more like me.
But I'm buggered if I'll stoop to the depths of socialism and pay more tax. I mean, how will that make me feel better?
The Tory: champion of the first person pronoun.
Lincolnshire CC rejected my claim. I revisited the road to find they have repaired not just the pothole, but 500yards of road covering the pothole.
Ive requested FOI inspection and maintenance records to help my case when i escalate to small claims
The council's really don't help themselves with regards road repairs. All over the country they operate under the archaic budget system so come January and February when the budget for the year needs spent, they go out and start resurfacing in wet and cold conditions where moisture ingress is common reducing lifespan considerably.
Next, they only resurface the top layer, so everyone sees a shiny blacktop and think it's new, but it's not, often the sub-surface is shot as well so potholes will reappear in time at same location.
Finally, the choice of materials, it's the cheap as chips materials used with limited lifespan, plenty of more durable materials out there with long lifespans but they don't get used. For instance they put down the anti-skid surface dressing at junctions and lights etc, but that has a lifespan of 5 years, hence why it breaks up, but there's plenty of other more expensive but more durable materials, but they never use them.
No matter how much money we throw at the problem, there needs to be a complete change in mentality and way we operate otherwise it'll still be the same conversation year after year.
Because they are more expensive. If they can do it cheaper now but have to do it again in 5 years that is OK because in 5 years they will have another budget to pay for it to be done again.
Individuals do that sort of thing all the time as well ... I pay my house insurance monthly because I can afford to pay £35 out of each pay cheque over the year, but can't afford to shell out £350 in one go at the start of the year. It costs more overall to do it that way, but it is affordable because I have money coming in every month. Same principle.
The other options for the council would be to do fewer repairs with more expensive materials, but then the complaints would be about the repairs not being done that "could be done if the other repairs were done more cheaply".
Classic no-win situation.
If I were to use an app to photograph and upload a picture of every pothole on journeys in and around my town, I'd have to stop about every thirty feet.
It's simpler than that.
Councils don't have the budget to allow them to make the choice to fix the roads. I don't know where the money for damages come from in council's budgets though? You can blame ausToriety for the lack of funding to councils.
You'd think funding the existing roads' upkeep would come before funding new roads would be a no-brainer?!
ausToriety, but caused by reckless Labour spending, we are still picking up the pieces from their mismanagement, splurging money we didn't have.
This old chesnut - it's crazy how Labour are still getting the stick for the massive banking sector crash which made everywhere poorer. Still, at least you know when somebody brings this out they are a crazed loon who doesn't read anything more troubling than the daily fail.
The Britons spent hundreds of years complaining about how everything was the fault of the Romans for just withdrawing from the country and leaving everyone else to pick up the bill...
(The Conservatives will continue to blame Labour until the next financial crash, then they'll blame Trump or Brexit or something...).
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have Labour ever done for us?
This old chestnut, it's crazy how the Tories are still getting the stick for every Labour fuckup that has left the country poorer amongst the working classes, continued to protect the upper classes and wrecked our manufacturing/national industries to the point were it was needed to be privatised or implode completely.
Still, at least you know when somebody brings this out they are a crazed loon who thinks Corbyn is the saviour of the country, probably thinks an undemocratic corrupt dictatorship is a good place for the UK to stay within and who doesn't read nor understand anything about how things work, nor any facts about the damage Labour has done to the NHS (because the loon will ignore that Labour sold off the NHS faster than the tories did and did it first) and fucked over the country with regards to manufacturing and our national industries that 40 years on from their past shit has never recovered.
But yeah, Tories, Daily fail blah blah blah.
And yes, the Tories are a bunch of slimey wankers for the mostpart but can actually run the country somewhat better than Labour can.
Shall we stick to cycling discussions instead of this bullshit!
At least Chougher was succinct.
It's also crazy how so many people are as thick as fucking shit, and accept the 'Labour overspent' myth which has to be about the most easily-disproven canard. Well, maybe just after the 'cyclists cause pollution' one.
Oh-oh. It's the 'Labour overspent' myth.
I've not heard that one in a while.
What a pity for knobheads like you that Labour in fact spent less in thirteen years, than George Osborne spent in the first four of his stint as Chancellor.
It's equally sad for you that figures show that since 1945, Labour in fact has spent less than the Tories both in absolute terms (which is understandable, since they've been in power less) and also proportionally. And they have repaid debt more often, and have repaid more of that debt.
Maybe you could try to get your nose out of Conservative Central Office's arse crack, and do some research for yourself.
(sources: House of Commons Library, GDP deflators at market prices (Office for National Statistics) and the Bank of England)
Totally different budgets.
Mantinance of non Highways Agency roads (I.e most roads that’s are not motorway or major duel carriageway) comes from local council budget.
New roads are paid for either by property developers (where they are related to new developments) or central government funding.
Im not saying it’s right or makes sense, but that’s the why.
Motorways and some strategic roads are funded by govt through Highways England. The rest are managed by councils (part funded by govt). Local Councils manage planning decisions and they secure funds for roads from developers. More and more they are refusing to adopt very local roads (housing estates) to avoid maintenance costs.
Govt austerity measures towards councils is political (fat face Pickles) believes they are rubbish and decided to choke off the cash to force change. Now Torres are realising that they do so much for people but can't reverse the rhetoric. Won't step in when they fail (Northants).
Long and short the roads are a service we all pay for and if you want better ones choose to pay more tax.
Property damage vs damage to body? Totally makes sense in relation to damages paid out, but unfortunately we live in a society which values property over people so *thats* why councils are happy to leave potholes alone IMO