It hurt when I crashed my bike into a pothole – and it taught me the true price of austerity | George Monbiot

<p>Fixing that hole could have cost under £100; the cost of not doing so is limitless. My prang highlights the neoliberal folly of false economies</p><p>I was lucky. Last week, I was cycling downhill when I hit a pothole. The front wheel folded into an infinity symbol. I went over the handlebars and, with no time to put my hands out, landed on my face. My helmet and glasses took most of the impact. I emerged, remarkably, with just a few cuts and bruises.</p><p>My glasses were banjaxed, my bike needed major repairs and my clothes were torn. Altogether, that pothole has cost me about £450. Again, I’m lucky – I can afford it. But the point is this: fixing a <a href="https://www.outco.co.uk/save-time-and-money-understand-the-true-cost-of-pothole-repairs/">pothole</a> costs us between <a href="https://www.tarmac.com/potholes/#:~:text=Reactive%20vs%20planned%20pothole%20repairs,the%20cost%20of%20repeated%20repairs">£45 and £90</a>. Not fixing it costs us far more. God knows how many other people have pranged their bikes or wrecked their car tyres in the same hole. Between us, we may have paid hundreds of times the cost of its repair. If people have suffered significant injuries, so must the NHS. One of my correspondents tells me: “I’m three months into recovery from a cycling accident with a pothole that left me being airlifted to hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries. As well as a brain haemorrhage (despite a helmet), I had numerous broken bones and can’t yet walk without crutches.” The cost to the health service must be huge; the cost to him incalculable.</p><p>George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/04/crashed-bike-pothole-cost-cycling">Continue reading...</a>