Are People Dumber than a Pothole?

[fried1765]

That must be some sort of west coast/intermountain west thing. On a couple road trips back in the 70s/80s I noticed lots of signs (mostly federal highways in the middle of nowhere) with "fresh oil" or "sanded oil" signs posted. Never noticed any difference between that section of road and any other. Figured it might be some sort of low budget surface rejuvenation, but wasn't sure.

Don't think I've ever seen that east of the Rockies.

"surface rejuvenation"
Some towns on Cape Cod do this oil/sand or stone surface treatment on their roads, and have been doing so for at least the past 75 years.

 

[grsthegreat]

a few years back my employee and i were in line at Home Depot and heard a customer complaining to the cashier about the snow. the cashier asked the lady why she didnt expect snow in north idaho before moving here. The lady responded " Well i could expect snow on the yards and mountains, but why is there snow on the sidewalks and streets". i swear this is true. So short answer... yas, people are stupid.

 

[dragoneggs]

I doubt it. I have 2 roads/driveways I keep up. 1 is for my family and 1 is my little neighborhood. In both cases they seem to think it just happens by itself. I tell my family to drive the high spots. Yet every time I observe them driving on it they just slam through the dips until they become potholes.
A few times I just refused to maintain them to wait and see if anyone else ever made any effort to fix it. What a laugh. Never even seems to enter their head. I always break down because I can't stand it. I actually like doing it but I think it would be nice if someone else would at least make some effort. Been doing it for 25+ years and no change. After I die or move I wonder how bad it will get before they finally decide to think about it.

Professor... congratulations on your 1000th post.

We share about an 800ft steep in parts driveway with three other families. Most everyone was pretty good at navigating up and down it, and most of our vehicles could handle well with some driving skill. The problem was that visitors would tear it up and we would end up with a pretty bad section of washboard. Each year we would hire a guy to come out and scrape it with his old antique Allis Chalmers grader, he then laid down a couple loads of gravel, and rolled it.

This expense got old and a little too repetitive, and after 10 years of living here, we all chipped in and had it paved a couple years ago. What a dream!... except when it snows and freezes. So now a few will self quarantine for a day or two while I get out and use my BX to clean things up some. It usually nets me a bottle of wine and some home cooked food!

 

[airbiscuit]

I would love to own one of those small Allis Chalmers graders.

 

[Jaylegger]

I doubt it. I have 2 roads/driveways I keep up. 1 is for my family and 1 is my little neighborhood. In both cases they seem to think it just happens by itself. I tell my family to drive the high spots. Yet every time I observe them driving on it they just slam through the dips until they become potholes.
A few times I just refused to maintain them to wait and see if anyone else ever made any effort to fix it. What a laugh. Never even seems to enter their head. I always break down because I can't stand it. I actually like doing it but I think it would be nice if someone else would at least make some effort. Been doing it for 25+ years and no change. After I die or move I wonder how bad it will get before they finally decide to think about it.

Hilarious and very similar to my predicament. Nothing better than heading out the road after a rain and every f'n track from others goes right through the middle of everyone depression/pothole. It's an exercise of self restraint and I also enjoy doing the work but many others are just completely oblivious.