Every now and then a utility pops up which actually does intend to make life easier for cyclists, and the CTC have possibly struck gold with their latest idea.

In the past when you found a defect in the road there was the inevitable trawl through the council listings to find the departments responsible for the upkeep and maintenance. There then followed a period of buck-passing and bureaucratic wrangling before some workmen drank tea while looking into your pothole.

fillthathole.org.uk intends to make things quite a bit simpler. Of course a lot of this is in the interest of the CTC as apparently 12% of claims it handles are caused by road defects. Whatever the reasons this could become a very useful tool. Before reporting a problem, you can look for already reported defects in your area, city or town. This can be done by a basic list, a slightly less than useless chronological list, or by map, with little flags indicating a problem.

Powered by googlemaps when you want to add something to the site you find the position on the map and click to place your own flag. You are then taken to the reporting page to fill in as much detail as you can about the pothole, bad surface, or whatever else is wrong which may have a bearing on the safety of cyclists. Each report is checked, and then the CTC does the legwork in passing the complaints on to the relevant authorities.

One pothole we reported was checked and passed on easily within 24 hours - whether this pace will remain as the site gains in popularity remains to be seen, but we'll be keeping an eye on the pothole to see if it ends up finally being repaired (and once it has you simply let fillthathole know for their records).

 

Tell us about your favourite sites for inclusion in the future at siteofthemonth@citycycling.co.uk