Almost three out of four motorists (72%) say the state of UK roads make them less likely to keep local and national politicians in power, new research shows.
May’s Startline Used Car Tracker indicates that 48% think potholes are a constant source of irritation when driving, 36% that the state of UK roads is embarrassing and 32% are worried about resulting damage to their car.
Also, 28% believe they pay enough tax that our roads should be in good condition and 23% that potholes are a good measure of whether politicians can solve other problems.
However, 15% believe potholes are a result of decades of underinvestment in roads and 12% that there are more important factors influencing their vote.
Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: “We asked this question following recent comments from the RAC showing they had been called out to three times the number of pothole-related incidents compared to last year thanks to poor weather. It seemed to us that the state of UK roads was such an unavoidable, everyday topic, that it would be interesting to find out how motorists thought it reflected on those is power.
“The answer, unavoidably, is badly. Our research shows potholes appear to be one of the ways that a clear majority of people measure the effectiveness of politicians and, if they feel that no progress is being made, are less likely to vote for them in the future.
“Of course, the Labour government has allocated quite large sums of money to improving the pothole situation but, with the effects of poor weather seen over this winter on already damaged roads, they are chasing an escalating problem.”
The Startline Used Car Tracker also asked whether people were confident that local and national government would have noticeably improved the pothole situation by the end of this decade, with 51% agreeing.
Paul said: “Given the level of irritation or even anger indicated in the responses to our other questions, this is perhaps a surprising degree of optimism. However, the only sensible interpretation is that around half of people retain a high degree of faith that politicians will have made an impact on the situation within a few years.”
Nowhere is the frustration more acute than in Aberdeen, which has been named the pothole capital of the UK, recording a staggering 10,396 defect reports per 100km of road between 2021 and 2025 – nearly 4,000 more than any other area in the country, according to research by Blackcircles.com based on Freedom of Information data.
Aberdeen’s notoriously cold winters, with average temperatures of 4.8°C, well below the UK average of 6.5°C, are cited as a key driver of the freeze-thaw cycle that accelerates road surface deterioration.
In Scotland, a Liberal Democrats-commissioned poll from April 2025 found that 45% of Scottish respondents describe their roads as very poorly maintained – the highest proportion of any UK nation. As Aberdeen City Council acknowledged in January 2026, severe winter conditions had generated a fresh wave of high-priority potholes requiring urgent attention, a cycle local residents say shows no sign of ending.
In Case You Missed it:
The Startline Used Car Tracker is compiled monthly for Startline Motor Finance by APD Global Research, well-known in the motor industry for their business intelligence reporting and customer experience programs. This time, 309 consumers and 62 dealers were questioned.
