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What better way of stopping cars tearing past school entrances and front doors than the prospect of holes strewn in their path?

Spring has sprung and, after the hardest winter in 30 years, potholes are going forth and multiplying on British roads. CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, has logged reports for 34,000 of them, less than a third of which have been mended. Their website FillThatHole.org.uk publishes a league table of highway authorities ranked on the percentage of potholes that have been fixed. Of the big authorities, Cumbria is near the top and Dumfries and Galloway almost at the bottom. Potholes cost British motorists £2.8bn a year in burst tyres and axle and suspension failures according to Potholes.co.uk, a site put up by a provider of car warranties. People hate potholes.They are seen as signs of neglect, of feckless or underfunded councils. The budget had an £100m fund to repair them. But isn't Alistair Darling getting this the wrong way round? If Keynes advocated digging holes in the road to pump-prime the economy, how about leaving them there to pay off the debt? Potholes are inverse speed bumps, and all the more effective as a traffic calming measure, precisely because of their ability to shred low-profile tyres, buckle wheels and damage wheel bearings and track rod ends. What better way of stopping cars tearing past school entrances and people's front doors, what swifter way of shutting down their rat runs, than the prospect of black holes strewn liberally and irregularly in their path? We can make one concession for cyclists: that potholes should be painted in yellow. But fill them in? Let entropy take its course.Transport policyCyclingMotoringTransport
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Unthinkable? Leaving potholes alone | Editorial was originally published by Technology: Motoring | guardian.co.uk. Read the full story by clicking here.