Three in Ten 18-24 Year-Olds Have Complained about the Major Highways

Leamington Spa, UK 14 September 2016 – Three out of every ten 18-24 year-olds (30%) have already complained to the relevant authorities at least once about the state of the major highways network (including motorways, larger ‘A’ roads, and dual carriageways). That’s according to a new survey by technology company Yotta which also revealed that the percentage complaining was much higher than in any other age group and nearly twice the proportion (16%) of 55 and overs who had ever registered an objection, despite the much longer lifetime of this latter group.

“Our findings contradict the old stereotype that complaints about the state of the roads come almost exclusively from the retired, writing handwritten letters to the council about dangerous potholes,” said Simon Topp, director of marketing and international business, Yotta.

“It seems that young people, in the 18-24 age bracket in particular, are rapidly becoming the biggest protestors about road standards,” he adds. “This trend seems likely to be due at least in part to the rapidly escalating usage among the young of the latest digital technology such as social media and smartphones, making it much simpler and less time-consuming to register a complaint.”

However, when it came to local roads, the 55+ age range other group were, unsurprisingly perhaps, the biggest complainers, with 54% saying they had complained at least once to a local authority about an issue relating to the state of the network. Intriguingly, though, the 18-24 age range were not far behind. They were the next highest objectors overall, in spite of their relatively short lifespan so far, with 44% saying they had complained at least once and as many as 26% in total stating that they had done so multiple times.