French carmaker Citroen has called for the nationwide deployment of artificial intelligence to monitor road defects and help resolve Britain's escalating pothole crisis. The manufacturer states that utility companies should also face tougher oversight to ensure roads are properly reinstated after excavation works.
Citroen estimates that repairing roads across Britain could unlock savings of at least £5.5billion by reducing accidents and improving network efficiency. Department for Transport data indicates that road defects contribute to 6 per cent of fatal or serious collisions. With crashes costing society an estimated £54.7billion annually, eliminating pothole-related accidents could save around £3.3billion. Furthermore, the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation believes introducing longer-term funding programmes could save local highways authorities an additional £2.2billion.
Recommendations for road repairs
As part of its newly launched Better Roads Manifesto, Citroen has outlined six recommendations for local highways authorities and councils to improve road conditions. The proposals were developed with support from Dave Gaster, a qualified highways engineer with more than 25 years of local government experience who has researched pothole reporting for nearly a decade.
The manifesto calls for AI-powered technology to improve road inspections, reduce costs, generate better-quality data and enable targeted repairs. Citroen also recommends giving local highways authorities stronger powers to ensure utility firms properly repair roads after excavation works, alongside a rolling five-year government funding settlement.
Other recommendations include establishing a national road repair standard to measure quality against common benchmarks, expanding the use of volunteers to identify defects, and implementing a comprehensive road-cleaning strategy to remove hazardous debris.
Greg Taylor, managing director of Citroen UK, said: "Simply calling for more funding isn't realistic, so we are suggesting practical, cost-effective and logical steps that national government, local highways authorities and the public can support to improve the quality of roads across Britain."
Driver safety and maintenance funding
Citroen's report revealed that more than a quarter of drivers, 28 per cent, have lost control of their vehicle due to a pothole, pothole debris, or a combination of both. The research indicates that motorists are open to helping fund improvements if the revenue is dedicated to road maintenance.
According to the survey, 56 per cent of drivers said they would pay higher council tax for better roads. Additionally, 49 per cent supported an increase in Vehicle Excise Duty, also known as car tax, provided all proceeds are ringfenced specifically for road repairs.
A Freedom of Information request sent to 154 local highways authorities exposed widespread variation in how councils identify, assess and repair potholes. The investigation showed there is no national definition of what constitutes a pothole, a gap previously highlighted in a Channel 4 Dispatches report last April using RAC data.
Deficit standards vary widely between regions. Some authorities classify a pothole only if it is at least 40mm deep, while others require a depth of 80mm before taking action. Width criteria also range from 75mm to 300mm depending on the authority.
Local council inspection inconsistencies
The study found that only a quarter of local highways authorities sweep roads at least once every three months to remove potentially hazardous debris, while some conduct no routine sweeping at all. Response times for repairs also showed massive discrepancies, ranging from a few hours to three months for one in seven authorities.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council reported that residents could face waits of up to 357 days for certain repairs. Technology usage remains similarly inconsistent, as only about half of local authorities geo-locate potholes during inspections.
Of the authorities that collect location data, nearly half do not share the coordinates directly with repair teams. Citroen noted that dispatching maintenance crews without precise location data reduces efficiency and delays repairs. In an extreme example, Kingston upon Thames stated that it carries out no in-person inspections whatsoever.
Artificial intelligence road monitoring
To address monitoring gaps, Citroen is working with STAN, an AI-powered road monitoring tool. The free smartphone app scans roads while users drive, capturing images of defects and uploading them to a central database that local highways authorities can purchase access to for targeting maintenance.
Dave Gaster said: "British roads are in a historically poor state. Unless we act now, we will continue to store up problems that become increasingly costly to address. The findings of this report are deeply concerning, but the proposed remedies are practical, logical and, if implemented, could make a significant difference to the condition of roads across the country."
Citroen is urging motorists to download the STAN app to help build a clearer picture of Britain's road network and supply councils with actionable repair data.
