There are five times more defects on British roads than previous estimates, according to data from a dashboard app that uses AI technology.
Campaigner Mark Morrell, also known as Mr Pothole, said data from Stan the App, which detects and classifies potholes, suggests that there are 11.5 million potholes on the UK road network.
Video from the app’s 7,000 users is reported to have shown there are 1.5 million defects across the 13% of UK roads it has mapped so far.
This compares with the RAC’s estimate of around 1 million potholes at any time.
Image source: Stan the App
The 2024 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that councils in England and Wales had filled over two million over the last year.
Mr Morrell said: ‘This app gives power to the public to survey the roads they use. I am not surprised by the 11.5 million potholes and defects on existing carriageways. I have been warning about this situation over my 11 years of campaigning.
‘Until the Government and the authorities face up to the massive challenge of resurfacing our roads, it will end up costing more and more.’
Mr Morrell warned that if action is not taken to reverse the decline, more than half of Britain’s roads will have become ‘structurally unsound’ in fifteen years’ time.
Mike Mockford, a spokesman for Metricell, the company behind Stan the App, said: ‘The app uses machine learning technology to detect potholes in footage of roads captured by motorists as they drive around the country on their everyday journeys.’
The app is also said to be able to determine the width and depth of potholes.
RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: ‘Drivers who are sick and tired of negotiating roads peppered with potholes know only too well how bad the problem across the country is – but up until now, there’s been little hard data to back that up.
‘What we need now is for the incoming government to address the problem head-on.’
