Half of drivers crash or have a near miss swerving to avoid potholes.
Half of British drivers have had a crash or a near miss while swerving to avoid a pothole, according to a new survey.
Despite the amount of drivers affected by potholes however, the survey found almost seven in 10 had never reported a pothole to their local council.
And even though they do not report them, nine in 10 motorists believe their council is not doing enough to repair the damage to the roads, the survey by GEM (Guild of Experienced Motorists) Motoring Assist found.
The survey also found that there were a large rise in the number of potholes due to the harsh winter weather. Certain estimates put the total cost of repairs at £100 million
While it found that half of drivers suffered damage to their vehicles from potholes, only five per cent made a claim against the council for the damage, with almost nine in 10 motorists admitting they were unaware of the procedure to follow when making a claim.
David Wililams, GEM chief executive, said: ‘‘Potholes affect every road user, from drivers and motorcyclists to cyclists and those on foot. Often motorists will not spot a pothole until it is too late and as the survey worryingly reveals, either swerve out of the way, which could result in a crash or cause damage to their car.
"Local councils need to take swift action in alleviating this nationwide problem but it is also important for motorists to play their part in reporting potholes to local councils. Potholes are not simply just a nuisance they are a massive road safety issue.’’
Councillor David Sparks, Chair of the Local Government Association Transport Board, said: “Councils spend millions to ensure that roads are safe and potholes are filled. The latest cold weather means that they are working flat out to fill in the ones created during the last month of freezing weather.
“Potholes are the gaping sores in our road network and councils know how much motorists want to see the proverbial bandage being applied. Getting people safely from A to B is at the top of every council’s agenda.
“The wet combined with the freezing conditions destroys tarmac very quickly. As the ice seeps into the road it expands and rips chunks of the surface out leaving potholes blighting the highways.
“After the snow comes the repairs and councils are working flat out to keep drivers safe by fixing the holes as quickly as possible. However, some ground is now waterlogged meaning the bituminous material will not stick. Temporary solutions will be used where necessary until the weather improves.”
Roadwork fines to increase tenfold
Firms which allow their road works to overrun will face a tenfold increase in penalties to up to £25,000 a day under Government plans to tackle congestion
At the moment councils can only fine utility companies or those responsible for the works up to £2,500 a day.
"These new measures show just how serious the Government is about tackling problem road works which cost our economy £4.2 billion each year," said Sadiq Khan, the Transport Minister.
"There is no excuse for those companies who allow their works to drag on for longer than they should, causing inconvenience and frustration for the travelling public. The new charges and tougher inspection regime will provide a strong incentive for utilities to finish works on time or pay for the disruption they cause."
The maximum daily overrun charges will only be applicable to those streets deemed to be 'traffic-sensitive' by councils.
Utility firms will not be permitted to pass the cost of these charges on to their customers under the plans, which go out for consultation today.
The new inspection regime also means that utility companies which consistently fail to replace the road surface properly or keep their sites safe could be required to pay for additional inspections by local councils.
The announcement forms part of the Department for Transport's street works action plan, published last December, which aims to reduce the disruption caused by road works.
Revealed: The cost of Britain's roadworks delays
Utility firms have been hit with penalty charges of more than £8.5 million for allowing thousands of roadworks to overrun last year.
Most of the delays – some of them dragging on for several months – were caused by projects which have not been completed on schedule, but some were the result of companies failing to remove all their equipment from the site once they have finished.
Of 94 highways authorities across England contacted by The Sunday Telegraph, 86 said they had imposed penalty charges on energy and water companies for over running roadworks.
Since the start of 2008, more than 40 utility firms have been hit with charges of more than £8.5 million for delays to their scheduled work.
It means the public are not only hit with the inconvenience of hold-ups to their journeys but could also see their utility bills rise to pay for the charges.
Rising demand for new communication and cable services as well as an ageing network of water pipes are blamed for an increase in the number of roadworks and, correspondingly, more delays.
However, critics say the behaviour of many of the firms is "outrageous" and that they have "complete contempt" for local residents.
In one case, road works by EDF Energy, on Black's Road, west London, overran by five months.
The firm was ordered to pay £15,000 to the local council, Hammersmith and Fulham, for the delays, which locals said had caused major disruption.
David Lee, who works at the Irish Cultural Centre, which runs courses and events for the elderly, said: "Sometimes the roadworks stopped the pensioners from coming here. It seemed the work would be going on all the time. The workers would pack up one day. Then they would come back again."
The same council also imposed a charge on BT of £22,000 for a three month delay on another one of its streets.
Several other councils also reported "over runs" of a month or more.
Kent county council charged one unidentified utility firm £12,000 for a 121 day delay to a scheme in Birchington.
Enfield council ordered Thames Water to pay £10,000 for a 43 day long delay to a stretch of road near a fire station in the borough.
The council imposed charges against Thames Water to cover 949 days of delays.
Terry Neville, the council's cabinet member for the environment, said: "It is outrageous that these companies and their contractors seem to have complete contempt for the local community.
"Londoners could be forgiven for thinking that the capital has turned into one big traffic jam caused by endless roadworks."
Most of the charges were imposed under laws which allow local authorities to charge utility firms between £100 and £2,000 a day, depending on how busy the road is normally and the scale of the disruption. These powers are not yet available in Scotland and Wales.
Overall, National Grid Gas was the worst offender, paying out more than £814,506 for delays to projects across England.
EDF, British Telecom and Thames Water all ran up charges of £300,000 each.
Hertfordshire county council imposed the most charges, a total of £600,000.
In London, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Enfield each imposed charges of more than £400,000.
A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said: "If these organisations are not completing work on time then they should be charged. It's up to them to stick to the agreement.
"They are multi-million pound multinational companies, making millions of pounds. I think the public likes to know that these companies are being held to account."
A spokesman for Thames Water said: "We have replaced nearly 1,000 miles of worn-out Victorian water mains under London since 2003, reducing leakage by more than 20 per cent in the last four years – this work has inevitably led to a lot of roads being dug up."
A spokesman for National Grid said: "
"We're the biggest utility in the UK and we've got more than 82,000 miles of mains delivering gas to 10.8 million customers. Maintaining and investing in that network is essential to ensure the safe and secure supply of gas to those customers.
"Sometimes – due to unforeseen circumstances or when we're working in particularly difficult conditions – projects can overrun and we're always looking at ways of working that can cut down the length of time we're in the road and reduce inconvenience to road users."
A spokesman for EDF Energy said: "We take our responsibilities to customers, local residents, businesses and motorists very seriously.
We do a great deal of work across our networks in London, the east of England and the south East, often in busy and challenging operational environments.
"On occasion our works have over run, often due to additional engineering works needed on site or a delay in reinstatement. We are striving to improve in all areas of our street works and take any failure to do so seriously."
Lack of spending on roads causes congestion and accidents
A lack of investment in Britain’s roads network is causing spiralling congestion and leaving motorists vulnerable to traffic accidents, a report has found.
Bottlenecks, badly designed junctions and a lack of motorways is leaving drivers stranded in traffic jams and costing the economy as much as £8bn a year in lost productivity, the Road Users’ Alliance (RUA) said.
Of £47bn collected from motorists in taxes, just £4bn is invested in improving the roads. "Under-investment in the strategic road network has left the UK with a transport system which is uncompetitive, congested, vulnerable to incident and inadequate to meet the future needs of the economy," the report concluded.
The number of vehicles on the road is expected rise by a third in the next 15 years, causing congestion to soar by 37 per cent, the RUA believes.
Traffic levels have risen by 11 per cent in the past decade, but the road network has only grown 1.5 per cent in the same period.
Tim Green, director of the alliance, said: "Road users have for too long been regarded as wallets on wheels, providing an endless stream of revenue for the Government to spend on anything except the road network.”
Ministers have committed to spending £6bn by 2012 on extending the main roads network by 520 lane miles, mostly through adding hard-shoulders to motorways.
But the RUA says this is a fraction of what is needed, with 375 new lane-miles required to cope with rising volumes of traffic each year.
Clearing congestion from Britain’s roads by removing bottlenecks, improving junctions and expanding the motorway network would cost another £4bn and would save the economy twice that amount, the report says.
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