Is the state of our roads damaging our company fleets?

Three recent news stories have thrown the state of Britain’s roads and the effect that they have on cars into focus.

Firstly, a report from the National Audit Office states that roads to ‘deteriorate’ as Government cuts maintenance budget

 There is now a risk that a proportion of the budget reductions in the road maintenance budget may not be financially sustainable and risk ‘deterioration in road quality and higher long term costs to the Department or local authorities.

This was after it was announced that there has been a £1.23 billion cut in national and local road maintenance budgets.

Then there was the news story that in 2010, fuel taxes and VED raised around £33bn with only around £9.4bn spent on local and national roads nationwide.

IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig calls it “highway robbery”.

“Using so little of the taxes motorists pay on road upkeep is plainly unfair. Motorists are also paying the price as Britain’s potholed and increasingly dangerous roads take their toll, damaging tyres, wheels, steering and suspension.

“Cuts are clearly going to have an impact on transport investment, but as more roads become more potholed and dangerous, spending on infrastructure now will save money in the long-term,” he said.

The frequency of damage caused to cars by the potholes in Britain’s roads was thrown into highlight by a report from potholes.co.uk

Duncan McClure Fisher of Warranty Direct, said: “With last year’s road damage barely dealt with, a repeat of those harsh winter weather conditions could see our highways deteriorate to the worst state they’ve been in for a generation.”

There is no doubt that the past two winters damaged the roads, in some cases not only causing potholes but stripping the top surface from a road. How big an issue is this for you and your fleet? Do you have any instances of road condition being responsible for damage to your company fleet cars?