This simple tip can help all drivers avoid potholes this spring

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Compared to much of the world, Canadians live in a harsh climate. With rapidly-swinging temperatures, repeated freeze-and-thaw cycles, and no shortage of snow and rain, Canada’s typical winter-to-spring weather tends to wreak havoc on roadways.

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Pothole season is approaching, and before long, millions of Canadian drivers will soon be facing the very real possibility of expensive damage caused to their vehicles by the roads and highways they drive on.

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This simple tip can help all drivers avoid potholes this spring Back to video

Potholes typically form when liquid water seeps into the substrate (gravel) beneath the pavement surface of the road, perhaps through a small existing crack or hole.

This liquid water freezes and melts, over and over again. In the process, the ground beneath the pavement expands and contracts, compacting and collapsing in the process. Eventually, a gap appears between the pavement and the surface beneath it, and the pavement is free to collapse into the open space beneath.

This is one way potholes form.

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The Risks of Potholes

Potholes are a safety risk for all road users. Aside from increasing the likelihood of an immediate or subsequent tire blow-out or failure, potholes also rapidly accelerate wear and tear to vehicle suspension and steering parts, which costs drivers money.

Some motorists experience catastrophic tire and wheel failure the instant they hit a pothole. Other drivers may accumulate pothole damage over time, resulting in issues later on.

Finally, potholes can steal the driver’s attention. While keeping your eyes trained far up the road is vital to safe driving, pothole-covered roads tend to see drivers focusing on the area just ahead of their car to avoid pothole impacts, instead.

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How Your Car Suffers

Hit the wrong pothole the wrong way, and it could ruin your day in quick order. Common damage from pothole strikes includes tire and tire sidewall damage, often in the form of a tear, rip, or bulge in your tire’s sidewall, which is a safety concern, even if the tire still holds air. Some potholes will destroy a tire immediately, while others leave lasting damage that can result in tire failure at a later, random time.

Drivers who frequent pothole-heavy roads should take steps to inspect their tires for signs of dangerous damage regularly. Ask a professional if you’re not sure how.

Potholes can also bork your vehicle’s wheels, suspension, steering parts, and even body and undercarriage in some situations. Hitting the wrong pothole at the wrong speed can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage in a fraction of a second.

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How to Avoid Expensive Pothole Damage

Not to unleash any radical new concepts here, but the easiest way to avoid expensive pothole-related damage is to minimize your chances of hitting one. Using our master tip, this is easy — but may take some drivers some practice.

The master tip? Leave lots of space between you and the next car in traffic, and make a habit of backing off from the vehicle you’re following as soon as you realize you can clearly read its license plate. That is, if you can read the license plate of the car in front of you, you’re probably following too closely.

You can use any reference point you like, but the point is to maintain and guard a generous gap ahead of your vehicle in traffic, at all times. Make this a habit, and it could save you thousands of dollars, or even prevent a dangerous accident.

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That’s because leaving more space means you’re able to read more of the road surface ahead of your vehicle, which gives you earlier warning of approaching potholes, and additional time to decide to how to avoid them. If you’re following another vehicle closely, you can’t see the road surface coming your way until it’s too late. When you tailgate another car or truck, your chances of hitting a pothole increase dramatically.

Tailgating is a filthy habit that could cost you money (or worse), especially in pothole season.

My Favorite Vehicle for Potholes (and An Important Lesson for Tailgaters)

My favorite vehicle for potholes is the Ram TRX, since its basically pothole-proof. The Ram TRX is a highly specialized extreme-performance 700-horsepower racing truck. It’s packed with extremely tough hardware — including axles, tires, wheels, suspension parts, and even a frame designed and tested extensively to stand up to serious abuse.

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In the TRX, I can comfortably sip my Timmies while whacking the sort of potholes that turn most car and truck wheels into an octagon.

Where I live, in Sudbury Ontario, we have a lot of at least two things on our roads: monster potholes, and cars that like to tailgate aggressively. Tailgating is a filthy habit that’s potentially deadly and (as mentioned above) possibly very expensive. Pothole-proof machines like the Ram TRX can, therefore, make a fantastic tool for educating your fellow motorists about the importance of leaving plenty of space. I turned this into a bit of a sport on a recent test drive, actually.

When being tailgated aggressively in a machine like this, you can simply stop avoiding the potholes. Hopefully, you’ll find a really big one to hit. It won’t hurt the TRX, you’d hardly feel a thing — but that tailgater behind you won’t see it coming, and, chances are, will drive right into it, often to hilarious effect.

After all, nothing stops your fellow motorists from tailgating you like losing a tire or wheel. It’s a powerful and friendly reminder to tailgaters that leaving more space makes for safer and less-expensive driving. Happy motoring.