Some of the potholes in the road surface are deep. I half expect that a prompt to take evasive action may one day be the sight of a pair of hands and then the top of a head emerging sheepishly from such a chasm.
On my regular routes through the County I have a good working knowledge of the main potholes and can usually steer my way around and through the obstacle course without inconveniencing or knowingly causing a hazard to other road users.
Invariably I will have to take an unfamiliar highway or back road and these pose the biggest threat to tyres, shock absorbers and my coccyx, already suffering from the typically harsh driving seat position and suspension setting of a German made car.
On the narrower lanes it is the half metre or so from the roadside verge on the passenger side which displays the wear, tear and destructive impact of heavy lorries, farm traffic and the sheer volume of use for which they were never intended.
The surface can be fractured and pitted like the exposed bed of a dry stream. Loosely strewn fragments of tarmac and stones can be forced out and up under the pressure of vehicles akin to the shrapnel in a landmine.
In dry weather there is an abrasive effect under rubber tyres reducing pebble sized materials to pea gravel and further to a fine dust which swirls about in the slipstream.
Following rainfall the broken skin of the road fills up with water giving the appearance of a smooth, glassy layer and lulling the motorist into a false sense of security. The crunch of a wheel rim on the concealed edge of a crater is accompanied by a geyser spray of muddy, gritty water which disappears momentarily over the car roof before running down the windscreen and side windows in long, erratic, streaky rivulets.
On the principal transport routes the budget for pothole repairs has been put into action. High profile road works and infilling of the worst examples takes place usually directly proportionate to the number of claims lodged by road users for damage. This can be a patchwork of fresh surface dressings or if reaching a specific percentage of coverage it is more cost effective to strip away and renew a long section.
The recent spell of persistently cold weather caused droplets of water which had found their way into the pores of the road surface to freeze, expand and by the repetition over a number of day and night temperatures to perforate and break up the tarmac. New patches, resembling cow pats in a meadow, seem to be particularly vulnerable to this seeping attack by the expansion and contraction of a simple water molecule and by loosening the hot bitumastic bonding the same problem which prompted the repair in the first place returns.
The Highways Department do rely upon a sense of citizenship or equally the indignation of motorists to report where the road surface is breaking up. The first action of the Local Authority is to send someone out with an aerosol spray can to encircle the offending area. This can be taken as a recognition and grudging acceptance of a pothole but buys some considerable time before any actual repair works are implemented. At least the sight, in good visibility conditions, of what resembles an oversized game of noughts and crosses does give a chance to approaching road users to plot their course with a bit more ease and assurance.
Under recessionary conditions and tightening of budgets the pothole is guaranteed a prolonged infamy. Most vehicle users accept them as a fact of life and to a certain extent relish the challenge to their driving skills in avoiding impact or the wrestling away of control which follows the entry into a rut, crevasse or trench. It may take, heaven forbid, actual tragedy or fatalities to produce a more determined attitude by the Local Authorities to this problem. In the meantime you may be best advised to add to the standard motorists tool kit a set of ladders, caving equipment and ropes, grappling hooks and a book of useful phrases to get along with the subterranean inhabitants of the planet be they of the persuasion of dwarves, goblins, trolls or the like.
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