[Lily]

Between April and June this year, RAC patrols attended 6,575 call-outs for damage caused by potholes – a 9% increase compared to the same period in 2024. 😧 That’s everything from broken suspension springs and damaged shock absorbers to distorted wheels.

The cold winter at the start of 2025 left its mark, creating more cracks and potholes than usual. As a result, the proportion of pothole-related breakdowns reached 1.2% of all RAC call-outs: the highest second-quarter figure in seven years.

The result? Broken suspension springs, which jumped by 23% year-on-year.

💡 The RAC is urging councils to focus on long-term prevention through treatments like surface dressing, rather than just patching potholes, so drivers can finally enjoy smoother journeys.

👉 If you spot a pothole, report it! And if your car’s been damaged, find out how to claim for repairs here: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/r...ort-a-pothole/

Have you had a run-in with a pothole recently? Close to my home there's one so big a sheep could easily dissappear in there without anybody noticing. 😂 🐑 And it's right next to the motorway exit, to make things more fun.

[Rolebama]

I had to replace both nearside wheels and tyres after hitting a pothole in Beds. It was around 6.30am on a dark, unlit country lane. I went back later that day to take photos, I didn't feel safe doing it in the dark, and couldn't find the culprit.

[olduser]

Perhaps Lily's sheep had filled the hole?😏

Anyway, I saw a new way of filling potholes on TV the other day, according to the Weetabix advert, they suggest Weetabix for filling potholes! I can partially understand the logic of that but how you use Weetabix to stop people using two parking bays, I am not sure, I don't think they would work like boat fenders or the punishment for parking that way could be having to eat Weetabix.

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Lily

💡 The RAC is urging councils to focus on long-term prevention through treatments like surface dressing, rather than just patching potholes, so drivers can finally enjoy smoother journeys.
.

Surface dressing is only ever a short term solution and doe's nothing to resolve the underlying problem.
The long term solution is to have roads laid and repaired correctly in the first place, it really is that simple.

Any road topping must be bonded to the underlying layers and be waterproof, the same goes for repairs.
Each layer the pothole has penetrated must be repaired, and bonded to the layer beneath, each damaged layer must be cut back until it is found to be bonded to its underlayer, and this process continued all the way up to the running surface. In effect the damaged section gets rebuilt to the standard the road should have been in the first place.

A section of road with multiple potholes suggests the cure is to rebuild the road.

[Lily]

@Rolebama did they fix it overnight? 🤔 or maybe it was indeed my sheep @olduser!

"A section of road with multiple potholes suggests the cure is to rebuild the road." --- Amen to this, there are several roads here in South Wales that need to be completely rebuilt, mainly in the countryside.