VEHICLE and even motorists’ safety is being compromised by the UK’s crumbling roads so motoring taxation should be ring-fenced to rebuild the network, says the AA.

These are the comments from the AA responding to the government’s Road Conditions in England report, which it says is a ‘mixed bag’ or results.

For while there have been some minor improvements on certain road categories, elsewhere the roads are deteriorating.
Edmund King, the AA’s president, said: “On the one level it is a relief that the condition of England’s local Principal A roads have remained the same since the previous year with 4% of the network needing maintenance, however unclassified roads are in a pretty dire state with 18% needing work.

“Motorways and trunk roads generally have got worse in the last couple of years with 3% of motorways and 5% of A roads needing maintenance. AA patrols have reported more motorway defects as there has been a policy shift whereby motorway potholes are ‘saved up’ until there is a stretch that needs repairing rather than individual defects. Drivers, and more importantly motorcyclists, can’t assume that motorway surfaces will always be smooth. Nor can they assume that skid resistance has improved in the last couple of years as 12% of A roads and 5% of motorways now have skidding resistance at or below investigatory levels.”