Potholes Are Inverted Speed Bumps

The epiphany cited in the headline above came to me sometime in the past few months.

I was chatting with my neighbor from across the street while we were out walking her dog, and I told her that when I was out running through our hood one day and saw a pretty big pothole [above], it occurred to me that after driving over it at high speed once, you wouldn't do it again.

Every few years our homeowners association spends a few thousand dollars accrued from annual dues to repair our two streets, each about a half mile long, which are considered private roads for maintenance purposes yet are fully open to the public.

The potholes, some good sized, are the result of heavy equipment that's brought into the neighborhood for various home renovations/construction/etc. that proceeds to tear up our roads.

Apart from the fact I believe people who hire such machines should be responsible for road damage they cause — which will never fly — I like the concept of potholes as inverted speed bumps which will result in the same sort of driver reaction, i.e. GO SLOW!

The next time the topic of pothole repair is raised by our homeowners association, I am going to pay my share BUT I am also going to send a letter to each resident of our neighborhood urging them to take a fresh look at potholes.