82% Increase in Pothole Related Breakdowns

Cast your mind back to the winter of 2013 and, as well as the freezing conditions, you may also remember the terrible state that bitterly cold weather left many of our roads in.

And yet despite two mild winters since, earlier this year, the RAC reported a staggering 82% increase in suspension spring related call-outs. In fact, by February the RAC had attended 7,500 breakdowns of this nature, compared to just 4,000 in 2014 and 5,600 in 2013.

This type of damage to a car is almost always the result of poor road surfaces and as such related breakdown callouts make for a good measure of road surface quality. Potholes can also wreak havoc not only on your car’s suspension springs but also on shock absorbers and even tyres and wheels.

Such is the state of the problem that the RAC has teamed up with the pothole reporting site Street Repairs to create a new app to help people report potholes. The app will also allow reporting of other highway problems and uses GPS to send the data back to the RAC, where it is then forwarded onto the relevant local authority. The hope is that potholes will be identified and fixed before they get much worse and start damaging car’s suspension.

It might be a small gesture but it’s initiatives like this that could help save UK drivers money as potholes continue to be a problem. Clearly the public perception is that the problem isn’t going away either, with RAC research finding 41% of motorists surveyed were worried about the state of the roads.

So what does the future hold? Well, there’s no doubt that the suspension of modern cars is far better equipped to deal with these unexpected bumps in the road but that may not be enough if potholes get too severe.

The two factors at play here are weather and funding. With the effects of climate change being linked to more extreme weather events, like flooding and cold snaps, and continuing cuts to council budgets in the immediate future, this problem could get a lot worse before it gets better.

For more information on adding breakdown cover to your DNA insurance policy, call one of our friendly team today on 08445 732 400.