What counts as a road hazard?

A hazard, as far as this site is concerned, is anything in surface of the road which is likely to cause damage or injury e.g. by causing a cyclist to need to swerve or to lose balance. A hazard does not need to be large to be dangerous: even a small crack can be dangerous to a cyclist with narrow wheels.

Road hazards can be physical defects in the carriageway, such as potholes, sunken manhole covers and cracks in the tarmac, or temporary hazards like spilt oil or gravel.

Highway authorities, however, have limited budgets, funded with your taxes. They have to decide which hazards they fix and which they leave unfixed. Some authorities have a standard set of measurements, such as hole size and depth, and they will only fix hazards that are worse than these standards.