period. The figure also shows the number of potholes filled, which has fallen 27.0% from the 2.7 million filled in 2014/15 to the 1.985 million filled in 2023/24. Figure 2 Figure 2 from the ALARM survey8 estimates the one off total catch up costs. Which continues to grow – this is partly inflation but more a reflection of the backlog over previous years and the additional damage that emerges when road surface problems are neglected. What creates potholes? Which vehicles cause damage to road surfaces? A recent article in the Daily Telegraph suggested that the Dutch tax on heavier cars was the main explanation of their less potholed roads9. Sadly this is fake news. While heavier vehicles do cause more road damage, the bulk of road damage is, not surprisingly, caused by buses and lorries, with vans making an increasing contribution. The standard short cut for estimating the road damage done by a vehicle is to take the axle load (weight divided by number of axles on which it is spread) to the power of four. This is called ‘the 8 Again from Page 9 of the ALARM report https://www.asphaltuk.org/wpcontent/uploads/ALARM_Survey_2024.pdf 9 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/netherlands-taxes-electric-cars-solve-pothole-crisis/
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