"Years ago, before I moved to Phoenix, I blew out a tire and bent a rim on a nasty pothole near the entrance ramp to a freeway. It was dark and the pothole was not visible until I almost hit it, by which time I was up to freeway speed and probably going 60 miles per hour. The state used to reimburse for pothole damage, so I submitted a claim for the $400 it cost me. This time I got a letter stating that they do not cover repairs caused by potholes, which are 'normal hazards of driving'."
"I was turning a corner onto River street an came across a manhole cover that flew up at the bottom of my van an damaged the whole under part of the van. This was so unexpected. I was ejected from my seating position and hit my head on the roof of my van. I am not a healthy person, so family was greatly concerned. We asked the insurance company to have the city of Waterbury pay, but was denied. Thank God I was ok, but my van cost thousands for the insurance company to cover. Just as bad as potholes. We pay high city taxes here, why can't they fix these potholes and manhole covers?"
“My son, age 20, works on an industrial park road. One morning, in his 2003 Maxima, his baby, he hit a pothole in front of a new industrial site construction. This pothole was 5' x 5', no exaggeration. He cracked his axle on the way to work.”
"I drove one of my bestfriend's down to Brooklyn, NY for Mother's Day two years ago. On the way to her aunt's house, we got lost. We were so lost we ended up in New Jersey twice! We stopped to ask for directions, a lady told us we were only three blocks away from our location. I was so excited, I sped up without realizing there was a pothole less then 100' away. The pothole was so deep that my whole front end of my car hit the ground and our heads hit the roof of my car. When we finally got to our destination, the paint under my front bumper had paint missing."
"My worst pothole nightmare happened on foot, not in my car. While crossing the street, I actually fell right in a pothole – and found myself in a mud hole up to my knee! When I pulled my leg out, my left shoe remained in the hole. As luck would have it, it was my new $300 pair of shoes! A nearby construction worker came to my rescue. He got a shovel and dug my shoe out of the mud! After that, I’ve paid better attention when I’m out walking!"
"There’s this huge pothole on the freeway in the right-hand lane, under the bridge, just before my exit. I can usually avoid it, but this morning I ran over it. Bang! My suspension is still shaking, and I think I’m lucky not to need a new tire."
We’ve all experienced them. But what makes your pothole story unique? Tell us.
Driving on rough roads costs the average American motorist approximately $400 per year in additional vehicle operating costs.
A group of undergrads at M.I.T. recently had the idea of harnessing the shock of hitting potholes as an energy source to power cars on the road.
Cuban President Fidel Castro once commented on the "enormous potholes" he encountered when riding into New York City from the airport.
A U.S. study estimated that vehicle repairs for damage caused by potholes and other dangerous road conditions cost $4.8 billion annually.
In a 1997 episode of the television series "Seinfeld" called "The Pothole," George Costanza accidentally drops his Phil Rizzuto keychain into a pothole, which is subsequently filled.
The term "pothole" was first used to describe a road hazard in 1826. In Britain, "pothole" also means a deep cave.
There is a well-known sport fishing location in Missouri called the Pothole. In both Pennsylvania and Washington, there are state parks with "pothole" in the name.
The final verse of the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" references a January 1967 newspaper report about thousands of potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire.
In the Ukraine, "the world's largest pothole" caused by a sinkhole was large enough to swallow an entire Volkswagen Golf.
A Pennsylvania company has invented a $300,000 machine known as the "Pothole Killer," which enables one worker to fill up to 100 potholes a day.
