Just to add a small piece of good news, in my area at least, a lot of progress has been made in the last few weeks getting the near-record potholes on the roads filled in. That, of course, doesn't necessarily make the pavement actually smooth again, but it does lessen the number of sharp impacts to the car's wheels/suspension and reduce the changes of having something break or fail.

For those of you who are old enough to remember the 3Gen Mazda Twin-Turbo RX-7 of the early/mid 1990s, that was one of its major problems. Mazda got superb performance and slot-car handling out of that design...on a track, it was considered one of the best sports cars in the world. But the trade-off was overly-lightweight parts and frame that could bend or break if driven hard on rough roads. Mechanics and Technicians spent a lot of time on that car repairing or replacing bent/broken light-aluminum parts in the steering/suspension/undercarriage....not to mention, of course, wheels and tires. The ultra-lightweight frame and lack of sound insulation also transmitted road and wind noise through it like a drum....the rotary engine, of course, was fairly quiet.

 

Good info here. Best advice I can say is to simply pay attention and look ahead. This should be done anyway, by studying what cars two and three in front of you are doing. Too many distractions in the car today and people aren't paying attentiong to the road and other cars around them.

Also to blame for the influx in potholes is the increase in SUV and light truck sales over the past twenty years. These all weigh more than cars and take a toll on the roads. I've also noticed here in L.A., more potholes have popped up along busy bus routes. They say adding busses has advantages, but no one puts two and two together and sees how much they destroy the pavement at bus stops or just after them.

 

Thanks. Much of what I've written here has been my personal experience.


Definitely too many distractions. Unfortunately, having to dodging potholes while watching traffic just adds to them. That's why, IMO, it's doubly-important not to text or yak on he cell-phone while driving.

True to an extent, but most of the damage comes from very heavy vehicles (like those buses you mention), not necessarily the average pickup or SUV that one would get at a typical dealership.