DRIVERS are only too aware of the dangers – the sight of a pothole in the road can send shivers down the spine. Do you have time to avoid it? Will it damage your vehicle? Millions are paid out every year for repairs to damaged vehicles and in compensation to disgruntled drivers.

For the first time last year, a National Pothole Day was organised by campaign group Street Repairs calling on road users to report every hole in the road, because of the sheer frustration and annoyance caused.

So it’s welcome news that North Yorkshire County council is taking the problem especially seriously, with £24m in funding they persuaded the Government to contribute and £20m from the council shovelled into repairs over the next five years. The aim is to make a big difference, particularly on rural roads.

But even they have to admit the money they have to spend will only ever mean a portion of the work needed can be done.

Many of our rural roads were originally designed for horses and carts, not the type and volume of traffic today.

In North Yorkshire, they have around ten per cent of the money needed available to spend, and all the time rural roads are deteriorating faster than you can surface-dress a pothole.

In the past the rural road network has been the poor relation of the repair programme, and it’s reckoned around a quarter, 1,200 kilometres, are in need of repair, compared to three to four per cent of principal A roads and other heavily used roads. So it looks like the county council is planning to make a difference, concentrating on roads that link villages and communities to the towns. It’s a big job.

The next national pothole day is in January. It would be good to see a noticeable difference by then.