BETTER maintenance of Kent roads is on the way after the introduction of new technology to survey the state of the carriageways.

KCC's main roads contractor Babtie has used a £500,000 survey vehicle to build up an accurate and quick picture of the condition of the road network.

The vehicle uses 18 laser beams, a strobe light, four video cameras and a GPS antenna to map road conditions while travelling at the same speed as normal traffic.

Kent County Council is one of the first local authorities to take advantage of this technology.