Transport Insights

I have just caught up with Panorama’s programme on The Pothole Problem, which aired earlier this week and does very much dig beneath the surface of the issue, as you would hope.

Having worked briefly with Richard Bilton and colleagues on last year’s programme about smart motorways, I am not surprised that this new programme went beyond the headlines, as well as making a technical issue accessible and relatable.

While obviously highlighting the safety and other problems that potholes and poor road condition in general can cause, the programme correctly identified the obsession with filling them in as the main issue.

A number of contributors to the programme (including some who would say that, wouldn’t they?) highlighted the need for preventative maintenance.

Regular readers will have noticed that I am not a fan of Simon Lightwood but it was sad to see the hapless roads minister being asked to defend a Department for Transport (DfT) press release last year claiming that extra funding would see seven million more potholes to be filled.

That press release did actually say that councils would be expected to “deliver proactive maintenance before potholes start to form” but the desire for a big number obviously took over.

The DfT’s messaging on this point has been mixed, to say the least.

The most interesting point made by the programme is that contractors have a vested interest in repairs that quickly fail so that they get paid to fill them in again

and again

and again.

That’s the pothole problem.