Improving the quality of road surfaces on England’s major roads is the top priority for drivers, new research has found.

Safer design and maintenance of roads, better behaved drivers and the better management of roadworks are also in their top four priorities.

Transport Focus, the independent transport user watchdog, asked nearly 5,000 car and van drivers and motorcyclists to rank their priorities for improvement. The results are broken down by type of vehicle, region, age, gender, disability and journey purpose and length.

Anthony Smith,  chief executive of Transport Focus, said: “Road surface quality is important to drivers and bikers – this is a desire for less noisy, and more comfortable and safe journeys whatever the weather, as well as less potholes.

“This insight should help Highways England and the Government to focus investment and effort on things that make a real difference to road users.”

The research, Road users’ priorities for improvement: car and van drivers and motorcyclists, also found that:

• Reduced journey times were ranked by drivers as their sixth priority for improvement, although this moved up to second place for commuters and third for business users
• The better management of unplanned delays such as accidents or breakdowns is more important to women drivers from all age groups who ranked it third, than men drivers who ranked it fifth and sixth across different age groups
• Drivers within the M25 ranked reduced journey time as their second highest priority for improvement
• Bikers are far more aware of (81 per cent) smart motorways than drivers (68%).

This research is the first large-scale quantitative research the watchdog has carried out since starting to represent users of England’s major roads in March 2015.