That's if some vigilante crater crusader hasn't already daubed massive yellow knobs around them, like Cambridge's "Wanksy".
Shouldn't this be c) on your list with "Do nothing" as d)? Unless, of course, commentards have other items for the list.
A peeling solution to pothole has split the community... Yeah, they stuck a banana tree in it
In the UK, there are a number of things you can do about potholes: a) report it to the council; b) call the local newspaper, which will photograph you squatting angrily by the hole while you squawk "it's an accident waiting to happen!"; or c) nothing. Honestly, for most of us, c) wins out in spite of ruined suspension, buckled …
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 11:56 GMT Aitor 1
Council..
Where I live, the council "fixes" them with cold tarmac, if you call them. More than a fix, I would call it a bodge.
Potholes everywhere.. I have never seen streets in such a poor state anywhere, including the ruins of Pompei and quite a few third world countries.
And yes, I do A) if only to not hear from my wife that I only complain and take no action..
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 12:28 GMT phuzz
Re: Council..
At least these days you can report a pot hole on the council's website, rather than having to send an angry letter. In Bristol there's even a map so you can find out which parts of the city have the most whiny residents (aka, who the fuck complains about a broken speed camera?).
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 13:38 GMT Steve Foster
Re: Council..
"(aka, who the fuck complains about a broken speed camera?)."
If the installation of the camera reduced overall speeds on that stretch of road, then pretty much anyone who lives nearby might do so (unless they've been caught by said camera!).
However, funding for replacement of broken speed cameras appears to be quite difficult to obtain, so it can be years before repairs are made. The latest trend (in the south-east, at least) is to introduce stretches of "average speed" camera checks to replace the older Gatso (and similar) fixed location cameras, usually covering considerably more road network than the original camera deployment (and extending ANPR surveillance at the same time!).
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 12:15 GMT Drew Scriver
Maybe toss some seeds of fast-growing plants in the potholes? Something like the beanstalk from Jack's story. That ought to spur city councils into action. Delay by a week and BOOM - big plant/tree growing in the middle of the road.
There are some towns that are legally liable for any damage caused by potholes that were reported more than a certain number of hours (48-72, usually) before an incident. Trouble is, those ordinances usually have to be approved by the very councils that lack the wherewithal to fix the potholes in the first place.
I've also seen cities adopt a mobile app so people can report potholes quite easily. It'd be nice to see more initiatives like that.
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 14:57 GMT Caver_Dave
Different budgets
I live in a bankrupt UK county. Many of the country roads are only just wide enough for two cars to pass and so the lorries gouge holes in the edge of the road and grass verge, some axle deep for cars!
If you have the evidence, access the correct process and badger the council for months, they do reimburse you for the replacement of burst tyres caused by potholes. Apparently, they can pay for that as it is a different budget to the empty road repair budget!
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 17:50 GMT chivo243
Re: Where I lived
Where I lived... This issue is a City Manager call\decision\action or inaction. He has to get approval from The Little Rascals + The Three Stooges before sending in Abbot and Costello + Laurel and Hardy to botch the job.
You can see how the whole process will start to seem futile.
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 19:44 GMT WolfFan
1st world problem
Many years ago, while in Jamaica for about a week, I saw on local television an ad for a product which would allow customers to... patch the potholes themselves. Yes, things were so bad that not only were the equivalents of the local councils not fixing the roads, they'd given up, and given up so long ago and so obviously that someone saw a Business Opportunity(tm). See http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/opinion/dodging-potholes-a-national-pastime_120240?profile=1096 and http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20171203/evonie-blake-how-fi-patch-pothole-jamaican-way (the Observer and the Gleaner are the two main daily newspapers in Jamaica) for how bad things really are. A banana plant (not a tree, trees are made of wood, banana plants have no wood in their structures) in a pothole ain't nothing. And, as can be seen in the pic with the Observer article, just one pothole at a time ain't nothing. And a HOA which dared to object to someone marking a pothole would quickly regret doing that.
And for those who don't know Jamaican politics... Portia Simpson-Miller, mentioned in the Observer article, first came to fame in the late 1970s when her very first campaign to become a Member of Parliament got her elected. With 105% of the vote. No, that's not a misprint or a typo. She got One Hundred and Five Percent of the vote. (The guy running against her got 15%.) She continued 'winning' elections in the same way until she 'won' election as the leader of her party (the 'Democratic Socialist' People's National Party, the other guys being the somewhat right-wing Jamaica Labour Party, yes, a conservative labour party. Only in Jamaica. Until Tony B Liar borrowed some of the JLP's ideas, anyway.) and after a bit the PNP lost an election (finally!) and she retired. Perhaps Boris could look her up, he may need an election consultant fairly soon, and she's got plenty of time on her hands.
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Thursday 12th September 2019 00:17 GMT Robert Carnegie
Re: 1st world problem
I'm in for the "patch it yourself" product, what is it? I'd like to use it in my cycle lane... and places where a cycle lane could be but isn't. I've been told that one-tenth the weight does something like one-thousandth the damage, should it shouldn't take much. Though seeing the road, maybe there are some extremely heavy cyclists, it's not like I stop people and weigh them...
"always leave the 'Men at Work' sign once you have completed work and everybody has gone home" - evidently someone finds the Jamaican concept, that work is taking place all the time between a project starting and being completed, unsatisfactory. And after the first week, it may be bothersome to see - but the signs aren't the problem and anyway you'd just have to have someone with the job of changing them over. I suppose you could have ones that flip, like the stop-go sign. It shouldn't be only "Men at Work" anyway, gender is complicated... the current British sign is substantially as designed before, I wouldn't say androgynous but its official title now is "Road works" even when probably the road doesn't work.
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Wednesday 11th September 2019 20:33 GMT Anonymous Coward
Fill it with gravel
And cover with roofing tar. It isn't a permanent fix, but some friends of mine who live on a dead end private road outside city limits and can't induce enough fellow residents to vote to pay someone to fix it used the materials they had on hand. Since the road almost never receives heavy truck traffic, it worked surprisingly well.
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Thursday 12th September 2019 08:41 GMT Christoph
I used to drive through the Socialist Republic of Islington once a month, back when they put all the council's money into important things like international politics rather than fixing the roads. I was able to avoid the enormous potholes as I could remember where they were - they had been there for years.
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Thursday 12th September 2019 10:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Covert roadway gardening
I'm thinking a pickup truck "accidentally" spreading dirt or cow manure from it's bed followed by another pickup "accidentally" spreading wildflower seeds might have some interesting results. Maybe another pickup towing a water tank with a leaky valve for good measure.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
