According to research by insurance company swiftcover.com, 76% of all roadworks carried out in the UK do nothing to improve the condition of the nations roads. The research revealed that most of the work carried out was on the UK road network is to fix utilities.
About 1.5 million separate roadworks are carried out each year, and of these only 24% are to improve the roads we use.
37% were as a result of water mains repairs, 7% electricity and 5% gas maintenance.
Hertfordshire was the worst affected area concerning water mains repairs with more than 18,500 repairs in 2010 alone.
However there are signs of improvement across the country with councils allowing 12,000 repairs on their regions roads in 2012 compared with 13,000 in 2010.
The constant digging up of the roads has not only caused untold misery for millions of motorists but has also hit council budgets further with nearly 10,000 claims for vehicle damage being lodged in the last three years.
This amounts to nine claims every day, and a staggering £29 million in payouts by councils in that time alone.
Now do you understand what your car tax is spent on?