In a blog post on its website, Mac’s Trucks refers to an FOI request made by the Lib Dems, which has shown that potholes are on the rise. More than half a million of them were reported from 81 councils in the 2021/22 financial year.
“Despite this figure, there is a surprising correlation emerged between the decrease of HGV accidents, the increase of HGV vehicles and this uptick in pothole cases,” writes Mac’s Trucks.
The company then bases its claim as follows:
“Surprisingly, potholes play a role in road safety by contributing to reduced speeds. Recent GOV.UK data indicates a significant drop in speed-related accidents, with only 2,572 incidents reported compared to 5,571 incidents five years ago. Drivers have no choice but to adhere to or drive below speed limits due to the potential tire damage caused by potholes.”
Mac’s Trucks then went on to use the region of Derbyshire as an example:
“Certain regions in the UK have experienced a higher prevalence of potholes than others. According to RAC data, Derbyshire had the highest number of potholes last year, with over 90,000 reported in the region alone, surpassing the second-highest count in Northumberland by more than 20,000. The lowest rank on the list is East Sussex, which had 13,081 potholes recorded last year. Based on the data presented above [available here], it can be inferred that Derbyshire has a lower occurrence of accidents due to the abundance of potholes, while East Sussex experiences a higher number of driving accidents due to the scarcity of potholes.”
Keen to stress how it came to its conclusion, Mac’s Trucks also listed its methodology in detail in its blog post. You can read it in full here.
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