'I'm a West Midlands driving instructor - potholes and badly surfaced roads change the way I teach'

A Walsall driving instructor has warned that potholes are making life increasingly difficult for learner drivers, with damaged roads putting additional pressure on pupils already struggling to build their confidence behind the wheel.

Paul Fisher, owner of Rio Driving School, has raised concerns about the condition of roads across the West Midlands after new research ranked the region as the worst in the UK for pothole damage.

A study carried out by Censuswide for Close Brothers Motor Finance found that 33 per cent of motorists in the West Midlands had suffered vehicle damage caused by a pothole in the past year.

The research also estimated that potholes are costing drivers across the UK £3.3 billion in vehicle repairs annually.

Mr Fisher, who has been teaching since 2010 and provides manual and automatic driving lessons across Walsall, Cannock, Stafford, Lichfield and Wolverhampton, believes deteriorating road surfaces are creating unnecessary challenges for inexperienced motorists.

He said: "Learners already have many things to manage at once, and potholes, damaged surfaces, faded road markings, flooding and frequent roadworks add further hazards and decision-making pressure.

"Although dealing with imperfect roads is an important part of learning to drive safely, badly maintained roads can make early lessons unnecessarily challenging."

Despite Staffordshire County Council announcing that more than 4,000 potholes were repaired during August, as part of a target to fill 40,000 by the end of March 2027, Mr Fisher said he had yet to notice a consistent improvement.

He added: "Potholes and damaged surfaces still come up regularly during driving lessons and repairs can sometimes feel temporary or limited to individual sections of the road.

"New defects also appear quite quickly, particularly after periods of heavy rain or cold weather."

The instructor warned that potholes can prompt dangerous reactions from learners, particularly those who have yet to develop the confidence and awareness needed to respond safely to unexpected hazards.

He said: "Learner drivers often react late or panic when they suddenly notice a pothole.

"The most common mistakes are braking harshly, swerving without checking mirrors or surrounding traffic, fixating on the pothole instead of looking ahead and approaching it too quickly."

Mr Fisher recalled one dramatic incident in which he was forced to intervene.

He said: "A learner noticed a large pothole quite late and instinctively swerved towards the centre of the road without checking their mirrors or considering an approaching vehicle.

"I intervened by taking control of the steering and guiding the car back into a safe position."

The condition of local roads has also forced Mr Fisher to reconsider the routes he uses during lessons, with less experienced pupils sometimes kept away from particularly badly affected areas.

He said: "For less experienced pupils, I may avoid badly affected roads until they have developed better steering, speed control and hazard awareness.

"For more experienced pupils, I may use these conditions as a learning opportunity.

"Road condition remains something instructors and learners must continually consider when planning routes and making safe driving decisions."

Mr Fisher urged learners to look further ahead, adjust their speed and check surrounding traffic before attempting to avoid potholes.

He added: "If a pothole cannot be avoided safely, it is better to slow down and drive over it carefully than to swerve suddenly."