Although I have done quite a few miles in the north recently, it's not often that I venture south of the West Midlands, but went I drove to 'sarff' London last week and was shocked at the state of the roads in the south. You had to actively dodge the potholes (a dangerous enough action in itself) to avoid buckling a rim (or braking an alloy) and these were not confined to 'B' roads, 'A' roads and motorway surfaces were awful in some places with large holes right on the driving line. They would be killers for motor-cyclists, I was glad my biking days are over. One particular hole on a right hand bend just outside Hatfield right in the nearside tyre line could have taken a standard sized bucket.
I'm glad to say that the roads in the north are just one of the multitude of things that are better than the south...