IT is quite easy to criticise Oxfordshire County Council over the state of our roads, as potholes open up seemingly every few yards.

However, it is important to put things in perspective.

The scale of the problem is so great that it is not one the authority can remedy overnight.

Given the extreme weather we have had over the past month, it was inevitable the roads would suffer.

We are on a long bumpy road this winter, as the council tries to fill each hole as quickly as it can.

There is only one way they can do this as quickly and efficiently as possible and that is with help from the public. Just moaning as your car jolts into another hole will achieve nothing.

Council staff cannot be everywhere, so reporting potholes either to this newspaper or directly to the council’s highways department will help reveal the full extent more quickly and lead to faster repairs.

Then the county will be able to prioritise its repair programme, using common sense to first tackle those potholes which cause the most danger or affect the most motorists.

You can’t ask for anything more than that in the circumstances.