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The cost to business of the state of UK roads

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The cost to business of the state of UK roads

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26 February 2015

The cost to business of the state of UK roads
Estimates range upwards to the tune of 12bn to fix the UK roads

What’s the car damage when you hit a pothole?

The impact on a car can cause the following:

  • buckled wheels
  • cracks or lumps in the tyre
  • cracked alloys
  • knock out vehicle tracking and wheel balancing
  • Source: RAC tyre partner, ATS Euromaster

What’s the cash damage when you hit a pothole?

  • A single vehicle off the road costs SMEs £250 a day
  • The impact on small businesses is proportionately greater
  • If your business relies on five cars on the road, just one vehicle off road requiring repair is a 20% cut in your company car sales force

POTHOLES aren’t just a sign of a crumbling road network, they are a potential cost crater  to your business in terms of repair and lost sales.

THE deteriorating state of the nation’s roads is something none of us can escape, whether business owners or everyday motorists – and the situation has been getting steadily worse over recent years due to under-investment by successive governments.

One of the central calls to action in the RAC’s 2014 Report on Motoring was for the Government to address this issue.

Estimates by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) suggest an investment of £12bn is required in England alone to address the backlog and bring local road networks back to a state that means they are fit for purpose.

In 2014 the RAC also teamed up with Street Repairs to create a smartphone app to report a pothole.  This enables all road users to instantly report street defects direct to the responsible authority with accurate location, details and even photographs.

Crumbling road surfaces and potholes that pock-mark the country’s road network are responsible for a significant number of vehicles being off the road due to the damage they cause.

This is costly and inconvenient for the private motorist but for the business owner, it can have a serious impact on their operation. Flooding increases the risk further because potholes are filled with water and road users drive into them inadvertently as they are not visible.

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