We asked for your experiences of Scotland's roads.

Scotland's roads 3 - My car 0. So far I have broken on potholes on Scottish roads: One rear alloy wheel; one exhaust pipe because the hole was so big I dropped far enough down to hit my exhaust; and yesterday ...the same exhaust pipe I had only repaired three months ago.

For what I pay in Road Tax and Fuel Tax I would expect to have a decent road network that doesn't damage my car.
Allan, Scotland

The state of our roads is down-right dangerous. I ride a motorcycle from to Edinburgh every day and the ruts and holes in the roads are a disgrace. If the government want to improve road safety they should give us an appropriate surface to drive on.

A recent survey in the motorcycle press found that councils were happier to pay compensation claims for accidents caused by poor road surfaces rather than spend money on repairing the roads, simply because over time this was seen as the cheaper option. Isn't it comforting to know that potentially killing someone is preferable to repairing the road
Dr Colin W. Bayne, Scotland

In my opinion the worst roads are the streets of Edinburgh. I cycle to work across the city and would say that most of the roads I cycle on are full of potholes. Whilst an advocate of improved public transport I would like to see the road surface improved and treated as a priority
Morna Tinto, Scotland

In general our roads aren't too bad but I agree fully with Paul Heuvelmans's comment on safety for motorcyclists. Can we do something to help rapid response to dangerous surface reports? Also, the standard policy of road repairing whereby the road is scarified, left for days, surfaced then sprinkled with loose stones is stunningly dangerous for all two-wheeled road users. Can this be changed if we are doing more repairs or else there may well be some serious accidents as a direct result of repairs.
Mark Dunlop, Scotland

�1bn? It's a snip compared to the Scottish Parliament. I think it should be spent. Ewen, Scotland

Like it or not the fair way forward is to move to a toll system to pay for the road network. Taxpayers cannot continue to write cheques for the ever increasing cost of the car culture.
Gary Hughes, Scotland

It has been many years since the condition of roads within Edinburgh could be described as good. The majority of the main roads are poor and in need or repair. In particular roads that have been "dug up" for upgrading utilities, e.g. the water pipe laying on the south of the city (Fairmilehead). How long will the people of Edinburgh continue to vote for a council that has no apparent interest in maintaining the public highways to a decent standard?
David , Scotland

If less money was spent on so called "traffic- calming" and traffic islands, which very few people use, and are placed between adjacent bus stops creating more congestion, then there would be more money available for keeping a good road infrastructure intact. All traffic- calming does is lull pedestrians and children into a false sense of protection from vehicles when education is what is required. Roads are for cars and paths are for people - safety through education.
Steven, Scotland

It is my opinion that Scotland's roads are among the worst in Europe. Travelling on the bus every day in Glasgow is an experience in itself, you feel you may disappear down one of the many pot-holes and never been seen again. I compare this scenario to when you are on a coach being transferred to your hotel, 'most' of the roads are like bowling greens - or do the continentals just have better buses?
Raymond O'Neill, Scotland

�1bn? It's a snip compared to the Scottish Parliament. I think it should be spent. Many of the roads round us are in poor condition with potholes, worn away tarmac etc. Bad enough in a car, dangerous on a motorbike!
Ewen, Scotland

As a cyclist in Edinburgh I have to say the roads here are the worst I've ever seen. alan, Scotland

I'm a cyclist in Glasgow and I find the roads so bad that the only sensible bicycle to use is one with a suspension. I object to the appalling waste of money on schemes designed to improve the roads for cyclists. Every one that I have encountered has either made no difference or made it more dangerous to cycle. Before car users object to the fact that I don't pay road tax, may I say that firstly, there is one less car on the road causing congestion for them and secondly, I would be happy to pay road tax proportionate to the damage my bicycle causes to the roads.
Paul, UK

More investment in road maintenance? Our existing network is already paralysed by the current maintenance work, will the M8 works ever be completed? Why not channel this investment into public transport development in order that one day Scotland might be able to compete with the rest of Europe for mass transit capability?
Bob Holmes, UK

As a cyclist in Edinburgh I have to say the roads here are the worst I've ever seen. As a driver I notice the potholes and cracks but thanks to modern car suspension they are not usually a problem. When cycling however, I find most of my attention is spent on looking out for and weaving around the holes. This doesn't make for a safe journey and goes a large way to explaining the public's reluctance to leave their car at home and cycle.
Alan , Scotland

The roads in Edinburgh are truly atrocious - we pay nearly �200 per month in council tax and while I appreciate that this is for many services I also feel that the roads in the capital city are a disgrace. Edinburgh City Council should stop wasting time and money trying to eradicate cars and resolve this situation.
Iain, Edinburgh, Scotland

I have lived and worked in Germany / US and spent time driving round many more countries including Spain / Italy. Life and traffic seem to move perfectly well on roads maintained far less than ours. American roads are generally concrete not tar and full of pot holes. We must spend billions turning our roads into carpets, surveying and condemning perfectly adequate bridges etc.
James , England

I find the roads in Scotland to be pretty good compared to the rest of the UK. Vince, Wales

Couldn't we invest the �1bn in completing our Parliament building?
JACKSON TAYLOR, Scotland

Until recently I lived in Fife and worked in Edinburgh. The A8000 is a total disgrace. The roads in Scotland are bad, but the roads in Derbyshire are far worse.
Si, UK

The A7 route that connects Edinburgh with Carlisle has to be among the worst, not for repairs but for danger. Even so, I would prefer to use it compared to the crater-ridding cement stretches of the M74 in Lanarkshire. It's an absolute joke.
Brian , Galashiels

As a Scot living in London, I have to say the roads back home are in top condition compared to those down here. There are huge potholes everywhere - even Oxford Street!
Adam, UK

I find the roads in Scotland to be pretty good compared to the rest of the UK. South Wales roads are in a hell of a state. They can find money for so called traffic calming measures - speed humps everywhere - but the actual road surfaces are in a hell of a state. Surely sorting the road surfaces out should be the number one safety factor, imagine an emergency stop on a surface that has turned to gravel.
Vince, Wales

The government steal so much tax revenue from the motorist it is about time they put more back into the national and local road networks. I am sick and tired of sitting in heavy traffic in Aberdeen. It's about time they built an Aberdeen by-pass and another crossing over the river Don. All politicians of every party, tax the motorist and give very little back. We are treated as a golden goose with bottomless pockets!!
Neil Brown, Aberdeen Scotland

As a motorcyclist, I am only too aware of the real dangers that the issue of poorly maintained roads brings to my daily commute. Paul Heuvelmans, UK

Roads would not deteriorate so quickly if we reduced the load on them. We require a policy to encourage freight to be transported by air and/or rail and to install distribution hubs at major railway stations. This is the only country in Europe with such large volumes of HGV freight vehicles using the public highway. Such a policy could be incentivised via high road tax for hauliers and cheaper alternative methods i.e. the rail network. The reduction of such heavy loads will, without doubt, reduce the amount of damage on the road network, hence save money on repairs. Additionally it will reduce the volume of HGV's thus reducing the pollution. This solution is not only common sense - it's environmentaly friendly
Rob Hudson, Scotland - United Kingdom

Road repairs fall well behind the need for some new ones in several parts of Scotland outside the central belt. In the Scottish Borders there is not one motorway or dual carriageway, while the A9 in some Perthshire sections is where drivers are expected to cross four lanes of at least 60-70mph traffic. Time for a rethink.
Frank, Scotland

As a motorcyclist, I am only too aware of the real dangers that the issue of poorly maintained roads brings to my daily commute. I literally have to spend more effort looking at the road surface ahead for potential problems, than I do watching the other traffic. A bad tear in the asphalt or a large pothole require me to react exteremely quickly to avoid the problem. There is no doubt in my mind that the road conditions in Scotland must be among the worst in Europe.
Paul Heuvelmans, UK

The worst roads I have come across in Scotland are actually those in our capital city, Edinburgh. The city council is so anti-car that all their money goes on "traffic-calming" measures such as speed bumps, road narrowing and speed cameras which serve only to increase congestion for all road users - including buses - rather than improving the situation. Meanwhile, bust main roads, including major routes into the capital such as Corstorphine Road and Gorgie Road are allowed to crumble into a mess of multi-coloured, pot-holed rubble which is a danger to both road users and pedestrians.
Brian, Scotland

My (purely anecdotal) input to this discussion is that when I moved back north to Scotland in 2000, after 10 years in Wiltshire, the roads in Scotland's central belt are considerably worse than those just about anywhere in Enland's west country from Swindon to Bristol.

Part of it appears to be down to poor road construction, for example on the M8 Junction 3, east bound entrance, a matter of a month or so after the road was resurfaced there were holes already appearing in the joins between tarmac blocks. They are still there and getting wider.

The M8 itself is in a constant state of disrepair and has miles of cones at various points on it. In fact I can't remember when the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh didn't have at least one lengthy stretch under repair.

The A8000, the major link between the M8 and the Forth Road Bridge, is a real mystery tour of canyon size bumps and ruts. Add to this that its a single carriageway and you get a nightmare journey to the bridge.
GMcD, Livingston