LUKE MARSDEN: spare the motorist more pain and please fix Wigan's pot-holed roads

​The recent wintry weather has showcased that even an ounce of snow and ice can cripple our town’s road network.

I despise snow. As my dad always says: it’s nice on a postcard, and, yes it’s great for Instagram and whacking snow angels of the kids on Facebook. But then the big freeze arrives.

Like many areas across the UK, some of Wigan’s roads are like a minefield. Existing pot holes, filled with frozen water this week are expanding and likely to cause more danger when it melts. I hope not but we need to be extra vigilant at present.

It won’t come as a shock to readers of this column that the worst designed roads across our town are in Standish.

From the endless winding, eroding roads to ridiculous roundabouts: they need a total overhaul.

The situation becomes even worse when (at the time of writing this) temporary lights are in place. Mix that with the recent adverse weather and Wigan becomes a death trap.

Closer to home, Whelley was gridlocked with abandoned cars in some parts as Wiganers couldn’t get their kids to school or themselves to work.

The Government is apparently giving towns like Wigan millions of pounds to fix potholes and broken roads and that money cannot come soon enough. What are we even paying our road tax for?

Paying for new tyres every month isn’t fun and nor should we have to do this. Life is hard enough and, with more cars joining the road network daily, the infrastructure simply cannot cope.

The pass rate for first time drivers is increasing and with driverless cars looming in the not so distant future, we need to consider how we mend or attempt to upgrade our local road system.

It took me a long time to pass my driving test and like many Wiganers, I’m not intending to go back. Fix our roads, now!