Potholes. These holes in our roads and pavements are so called because our early roads were made from, amongst other things, clay. At night people would dig the surface cobbles and gravel away to reveal the clay. They would then remove some clay so it could be taken home and made into pots. Hence the nickname being given to the mysterious holes that appeared in the roads. This name has stuck and it is what we call them still to this day but I doubt very much that anyone digs the hole to find clay today.

However, the state of our roads, cycleways and pavements is shocking and woefully underfunded. It won’t be long before we all have to drive a tough 4×4 or tractor but then the councils will leave the problem even longer till even the struggle to cope.  As for cyclists it can cause serious personal damage or even death if one hits some of these cracks or craters in the road.

Councils whinge that they just don’t have the resources to tackle and pay for the repairs, which may be true, if they spend huge amounts of their budgets on “jollies” abroad, “gold-plated” handshakes, futile schemes, injury claims from accident victims and the installation of ridiculous signs telling us how far a city in France or Germany is or whether a town has won “The Bloom Best Town Award” or other such nonsense.

Even when there are repairs these are so often just a “sticking plaster” cure and within a few weeks the problem returns thus putting the public at risk once again.

Cars have to be tested to a high standard to meet the safety requirements to be deemed fit to drive on our roads but if the very roads we are driving on are not fit for purpose then surely this test is in part redundant? If one has to swerve to miss a hole or has to drive through a hole then its only a matter of time before some serious injury or death occurs.

I do realise that the repair bill is colossal but a lack of investment over the decades by sloppy councellors have caused this massive problem and it is these very people who should be brought to task to fix the issue. Does an insurance payout for the loss of a loved one really compensate when it could so easily have been avoided in the first place. A burst tyre or damaged vehicle can be repaired or replaced that is true but what about the impact on being late for work, missing an appointment or being late for a flight?

We have seen a big rise in the number of vehicles on our roads but sadly the roads have not seen the same rise for their maintenance.

It would be impossible to address every problem immediately but more has to be done to make our journeys safer and less stressful.