ONONDAGA COUNTY -- The snow and ice may be gone but, one piece of winter is still with us.
Chris Love says "between the tires and the car - they usually take a beating. Some of them, it's like stepping into a hole in the ground quite literally."
And drivers say potholes can put them in a no win situation, namely, hit the pothole or swerve around it taking the risk of hitting something, or worse, someone.
Jennifer Billock says "I haven't hit anything that bad. I tend to really avoid them and just swerve into lanes I shouldn't to avoid them.”
If potholes are the problem, Onondaga County has the ‘pothole killer’. The county has rented a truck for two months and says the oil based pothole fill it dispenses last four times longer than other traditional methods.
The ‘pothole killer’ will be heading to all four corners of Onondaga County, and not a moment too soon for many drivers.
Hitting a pothole isn't just a minor annoyance. These divots have been doing some serious damage to cars. At Autotech of Syracuse, they're doing their best to squeeze in appointments for all the pothole damaged cars.
Ed Grieb, from Autotech, says "The most obvious thing is people blowing out tires. The sidewalls are giving out and they're popping tires left and right. Sometimes, on the same potholes they blew a tire on last month!”
Grieb says this is the worst year for pothole damage he can remember and hopes the ‘pothole killer’ will lighten the load at his shop. Grieb says he's had lots of calls for damage to shocks, struts, suspensions and other front end damage.
City and County crews are working to fill potholes as fast as they can and they are asking drivers to be careful, and patient, over the next few weeks.
