They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If so, we can assume it is extremely well paved. Satan is a perfectionist (judging by the state of the world) and he’d want a flat, even road to accommodate the high volume of traffic.
Meanwhile, it’s March in Canada and Lucifer is busy making potholes. They are everywhere. Good intentions are few and far between. Repair bills for bent and cracked tires are plentiful. It’s pothole season; that glorious period between our relentless Canadian winters and our non-existent Canadian springs. The only folks who are smiling are the mechanics, repair garages and dealerships.
If drivers are thinking that this pothole season is worse than others, they are correct. There is an increased volume in the number and size of potholes this winter, due to swings between freezing conditions and thawing conditions.
The city of Hamilton, for instance, had repaired 14,000 potholes by the end of February. That was up from 11,200 in 2018. The Hamilton Spectator reported that it was so bad, citizens were playing “pothole slalom.”
Vancouver repaired 3,163 potholes in 2021; by mid-January, 2022, they had already tackled 197 more.
Toronto had fixed almost 10,000 by the end of February and Niagara Falls had double the usual number of pothole crews on the job. Sudbury has been dubbed by a few locals as “Pothole City.”
The Delta Optimist reported that a January cold snap created 730 new potholes on roads around Delta, B.C.
Should we tire of the beaver, potholes could become our national symbol.
Like resigned sarcasm, hockey fights and the use of the word “hello” as an insult, potholes are a product of our ferocious climate. Potholes are created by the ebb and flow of precipitation. Water expands as it freezes and, as snow and rain seep into our porous roads, potholes take root. When the ice expands, the asphalt puckers up. The weight of the automobiles driving over it cracks apart the surface. When the ice melts, the gaps created by the ice collapse. This routine tears the asphalt apart until finally, in Canada’s fickle “anti-spring,” potholes appear fully grown.
There are few things more truly Canadian than a silent gaping pothole, lying in wait to causing untold shock-absorber damage, wheel realignments and chipped windshields.
In the past I have advocated the “BUMP” method for dealing with potholes. To refresh:
B – Brace Yourself.
U – Underneath. As in, there is severe damage being done “underneath” the car.
M – Move on. Your suspension is shot, your wheels bent, and there may or may not be a crack in your windshield that looks like a miniature diagram of the border we share with the United States.
P – Prepare yourself for the bill.
When you spy a pothole, you should report it. Cities will dispatch crews to fill them. Given the proliferation, however, it is tough to muster much confidence in what could be an underwhelming experience.
“Hello, I’d like to report a large pothole on the Bayview extension.”
“Okay. Thank you for reporting the pothole.”
Pause.
“So, you’ll send somebody to fix it, right?”
Pause.
“Thank you for reporting the pothole.”
The best way to avoid becoming a pothole victim is to keep your tires properly inflated. This protects your rims and prevents extreme damage. If you see a pothole and can’t avoid it, slow down. When you hit a pothole going at a high speed, such as 65 kilometres per hour, you’re far more likely to suffer damage.
In most cities, as outlined on a City of Toronto website, you can file a claim if you believe “that the City has been negligent in its maintenance of City facilities, roads, trees and sewers, which has caused bodily injury or damage to your property.” You complete an online form, like the form used by Toronto, and describe the trauma of being preyed upon by the city’s potholes.
Getting compensation is easier said than done. As Edward Masters, a personal injury lawyer with Mann Lawyers LLP in Ottawa told Canadian Underwriter, “The city can be held liable, but it’s very difficult to be successful in a claim against a city for damage caused by a pothole.”
“Even if a pothole is too big or deep, the municipality still has a certain time period within which it has to be repaired. But there is a further catch: the time limit for repairing a particular pothole only starts to run once the city has been put on notice of its existence. So, if nobody reports a pothole, the time limit for getting it fixed never starts to run.”
So, make sure your tires are properly inflated, keep an eye out for street craters and remember the BUMP method. If you do fall victim, don’t feel too low, you are part of a large club. There are only two kinds of Canadian drivers: those who have had their car damaged by a pothole and those who are going to have their car damaged by a pothole.
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