Lancashire County Council’s recent move to change the definition of a pothole has brought into focus the standard of our county’s roads.
Their decision, to change potholes from 2cm to 4cm deep, was met with anger from local motorist and cycling groups, who claim that the counties’ roads are in a bad enough condition already.
The 13th Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey, published last week by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), showed that Lancashire has 3,600 holes littered throughout the counties’ roads.
Cyclist’s groups have called for a change in the way the council fixes the cracks in the region’s highways.
They want more money to be spent on the repair and resurfacing of roads throughout Lancashire.
The CTC (Cycle Touring Club) is Britain’s biggest cycling organization. They campaign to get councils to change the way they look at road maintenance. Chris Peck, from the CTC said: “We shouldn’t look at this as a growing problem. It is a systematic one. Councils across the country need to take a long hard look at themselves.”
Mr. Peck also argued that when repairs are completed, they are rarely up to the standard that cyclists require. He said: “It’s a big problem for cyclists. Sometimes work is performed up to a standard acceptable for motorized traffic but the road is still dangerous for riders, who then re-register potholes that are not fixed to the required standard first time around.”
Cllr Matthew Tomlinson, Cabinet member for Environment and Transportation, disagreed with the accusations and said: “We are proud of the roads we maintain. If you compare us to other counties across the country we’re right up there with the best.”
Figures that the CTC have recently released indicate how often motorists and cyclists can fall foul of damaged road surfaces.
In 2007 there were seven pedal cyclist deaths, 23 motorcycle rider deaths and 113 car driver deaths where, “poor or defective road surface”, “deposit on road”, or, “slippery road”, were given as the main reason for the accident.
These figures were used as evidence by Mr. Peck to show why he feels that local councils across the country are not doing enough to ensure the safety of cyclists. He said: “Potholes and road defects make up about 27 per cent of the total complaints that the CTC receive every year.
“The fact that Lancashire County Council think they can change the size of an acceptable hole in the road is ridiculous. This may lead to an increase in the amount of cyclist’s deaths we see because of potholes.”
John Davies, Chairman of Ribble Valley Cycling Club agreed with Mr. Peck and was angered by the council’s decision. He said: “No roads in the county are particularly good. Four centimeters is a real joke. If that’s what they are considering a pothole to be then most of the roads in the county are full of them.”
The issue of safety is the main problem cyclists have with the condition of the roads and Mr. Davies agrees: “Safety is our main priority. Some of the potholes in the road are too dangerous to be ignored but it still seems to take the council a long time to fix them.”
Cllr Tomlinson said: “Research we have carried out suggests that we are not compromising the safety of our road users. In fact, as a county council we’re keen to encourage cycling whenever and wherever we can.”
Cllr Tomlinson has recently proposed a scheme to charge HGV drivers extra for using the roads as they are believed to cause the most damage. He said: “I would like to look at a scheme that says these really big vehicles that are putting so much pressure on our roads would have to put more into the system and then that money could be used to keep the roads up to a certain standard.”
Mr. Peck agreed that this would be a good move but thought it unlikely to become a reality any time soon: “It would be helpful if local authorities could charge heavy goods vehicles directly for the damage they do to our roads. Unfortunately, I think this is a long way off.”
It seems everybody agrees that something has to be done to fix the problem of damaged road surfaces.
The council’s scheme to charge HGV drivers extra to compensate for the damage they do may be a start but Mr. Davies believes it will take more to stop people from giving up riding: “It’s getting to a critical situation now. I have started to do more walking and other members of our club are the same. Cycling is losing its appeal because of the dangers involved.”
Their decision, to change potholes from 2cm to 4cm deep, was met with anger from local motorist and cycling groups, who claim that the counties’ roads are in a bad enough condition already.
The 13th Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey, published last week by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), showed that Lancashire has 3,600 holes littered throughout the counties’ roads.
Cyclist’s groups have called for a change in the way the council fixes the cracks in the region’s highways.
They want more money to be spent on the repair and resurfacing of roads throughout Lancashire.
The CTC (Cycle Touring Club) is Britain’s biggest cycling organization. They campaign to get councils to change the way they look at road maintenance. Chris Peck, from the CTC said: “We shouldn’t look at this as a growing problem. It is a systematic one. Councils across the country need to take a long hard look at themselves.”
Mr. Peck also argued that when repairs are completed, they are rarely up to the standard that cyclists require. He said: “It’s a big problem for cyclists. Sometimes work is performed up to a standard acceptable for motorized traffic but the road is still dangerous for riders, who then re-register potholes that are not fixed to the required standard first time around.”
Cllr Matthew Tomlinson, Cabinet member for Environment and Transportation, disagreed with the accusations and said: “We are proud of the roads we maintain. If you compare us to other counties across the country we’re right up there with the best.”
Figures that the CTC have recently released indicate how often motorists and cyclists can fall foul of damaged road surfaces.
In 2007 there were seven pedal cyclist deaths, 23 motorcycle rider deaths and 113 car driver deaths where, “poor or defective road surface”, “deposit on road”, or, “slippery road”, were given as the main reason for the accident.
These figures were used as evidence by Mr. Peck to show why he feels that local councils across the country are not doing enough to ensure the safety of cyclists. He said: “Potholes and road defects make up about 27 per cent of the total complaints that the CTC receive every year.
“The fact that Lancashire County Council think they can change the size of an acceptable hole in the road is ridiculous. This may lead to an increase in the amount of cyclist’s deaths we see because of potholes.”
John Davies, Chairman of Ribble Valley Cycling Club agreed with Mr. Peck and was angered by the council’s decision. He said: “No roads in the county are particularly good. Four centimeters is a real joke. If that’s what they are considering a pothole to be then most of the roads in the county are full of them.”
The issue of safety is the main problem cyclists have with the condition of the roads and Mr. Davies agrees: “Safety is our main priority. Some of the potholes in the road are too dangerous to be ignored but it still seems to take the council a long time to fix them.”
Cllr Tomlinson said: “Research we have carried out suggests that we are not compromising the safety of our road users. In fact, as a county council we’re keen to encourage cycling whenever and wherever we can.”
Cllr Tomlinson has recently proposed a scheme to charge HGV drivers extra for using the roads as they are believed to cause the most damage. He said: “I would like to look at a scheme that says these really big vehicles that are putting so much pressure on our roads would have to put more into the system and then that money could be used to keep the roads up to a certain standard.”
Mr. Peck agreed that this would be a good move but thought it unlikely to become a reality any time soon: “It would be helpful if local authorities could charge heavy goods vehicles directly for the damage they do to our roads. Unfortunately, I think this is a long way off.”
It seems everybody agrees that something has to be done to fix the problem of damaged road surfaces.
The council’s scheme to charge HGV drivers extra to compensate for the damage they do may be a start but Mr. Davies believes it will take more to stop people from giving up riding: “It’s getting to a critical situation now. I have started to do more walking and other members of our club are the same. Cycling is losing its appeal because of the dangers involved.”
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