Fixing potholes could save Government over £5 billion

Citroen is calling for greater use of artificial Intelligence (AI) in monitoring and reporting of potholes and tighter controls on utility companies as part of a package of improvements detailed in its new Better Roads Manifesto. 

The French carmaker claims the Government could save £5.5 billion by reducing accidents and improving efficiency. 

Department for Transport data sourced by Citroen suggests road defects are currently responsible for 6% of Britain’s fatal or serious collisions.  

Crashes cost society an estimated £54.7 billion a year. Eliminating pothole related accidents could save up to £3.3 billion.  

The Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) believes reforming funding to introduce a five-year strategy would save local highways authorities an additional £2.2 billion. 

Citroen has launched a six-point Better Roads Manifesto to tackle the ongoing issue with potholes in the UK. 

Citroen’s Better Roads Manifesto 

1. Reforming how local highways authorities inspect roads, using AI to cut costs, improve data quality and speed up targeted repairs
2. Giving local highways authorities greater powers to ensure utility companies properly repair the trenches they dig
3. Introducing a five-year plan for road funding by the UK Government – this would save local highways authorities money in the long term
4. Creating a national standard for road repairs, ensuring consistency of road quality, and enabling local authorities to be measured accurately against one another
5. Using volunteers to increase manpower at no extra cost
6. Developing a road cleaning strategy to remove dangerous surface debris

Citroen research found that 28% of drivers had lost control of their vehicle due to potholes and road defects. 

Greg Taylor, Managing Director, Citroen UK, said “Our roads are a constant source of concern for drivers, which is why there is so much discussion around them for car manufacturers. 

“Simply calling for more funding isn’t realistic, so we are suggesting some simple, cost effective and logical steps that national Government, local highways authorities and the general public can get behind to give this country the quality of roads that we all deserve.” 

Citroen is working with AI-powered road monitoring tool STAN. It scans the road while driving, taking multiple images of defects and problem areas that are then uploaded to a central database that LHAs can purchase access to. This data can then be used to do preventative maintenance, as well as help LHAs understand better where defects are and how to resolve them. 

• RAC Pothole Index – statistics for UK roads
• How to report a pothole and claim for damage

• How many miles of roads are there in Great Britain?

How are local authorities dealing with potholes? 

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by Citroen examined how local highways authorities (LHAs) manage potholes, covering the entire process from reports and inspections through to repair times and the street-cleaning programmes used to keep roads free from debris. 

The research found: 

• About a quarter of local authorities sweep their roads at least once every three months (some do not sweep them at all)
• Around one in seven say it takes around three months to fix a single pothole
• 47% do not use geo location, so there is no accurate data about where potholes are, where they are typically forming or where to send their teams to deal with the problem

The research found there is no consistent definition between LHAs of what constitutes a pothole. Some consider a pothole to be 40mm deep; some think a defect must be 80mm deep; others define a pothole as 75 mm wide, while some believe a hole in the road isn’t a defect that needs repair until it’s 300mm wide. 

In 2025 the RAC’s expert patrols went out to a total of 26,048 members who had suffered damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs or distorted wheels – the breakdowns most likely to be caused by the wear and tear from poor road surfaces.