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Inundated with hundreds of requests each day this week, Los Angeles Department of Public Works crews have been patrolling roads around the clock, looking for potholes to patch and smooth. “This week in February we have been getting 250 pothole requests a day, which is five times the normal 50,” Greg Spotts, an assistant with the department’s Bureau of Street Services, told KTLA on Friday. The proliferation of potholes is especially pronounced in the city due to the recent series of storms. “We’re seeing potholes all over Southern California, on the roads, the surface streets and the freeways,” said AAA spokesman Doug Shupe. “It typically happens, you know, when moisture gets into the cracks of these — the pavement, and after the cars are driving over it, they start to crumble.” In addition to being an endless source of frustration for motorists, potholes can cause real damage to vehicles, according to Shupe. Repairs typically cost around $300, but in some cases, he noted, the bill can exceed $1,000. L.A. resident Boneshia Perri is one driver whose vehicle was damaged when she unknowingly drove over a pothole. “I had a pothole … didn’t know it was a pothole, and it bent the rim on my tire, and it gave me a flat tire,” she told KTLA. “Who’s going to fix that? Nobody. I had to pay for that myself.” When told she could file a claim with the city and apply for reimbursement, she responded, “That would be like asking a brick wall to come alive.” Still, there are some things motorists can do to protect their cars on pothole-pocked streets and freeways. Shupe recommends driver slow down, don’t swerving around one and — if they can’t avoid it — gradually pump the brakes and make sure the vehicle’s tires are straight. Spotts also advises anyone who sees a pothole on L.A.-area streets to report it using the MyLA311 app. “This is the quickest way to a report a pothole. You can drop a pin on your current location, you don’t even have to enter an address,” he said.
   

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