Potholes
With roads looking as craterous as a lunar surface, students may feel tempted to shrug their shoulders and simply try to avoid the potholes.
Yet there is a more proactive solution that requires little additional effort.
Drivers need to bring potholes to the city's attention. The process to repair a pothole begins only when somebody files a complaint.
Though this seems obvious, reporting a pothole may seem unnecessary. One may think somebody else probably has reported the same hole.
But if everybody adopts this view, the initial report never actually is made - and if only most people act this way, the city may not realize just how irksome or destructive a particular pothole may be.
Of course, the city has its work cut out for the winter; potholes have sprung up on almost every road.
But the greater the input, the better the city can prioritize its tasks.
Student drivers should not be the only ones charged with the task of road surveillance. Those whose job already places them on patrol - police officers, for example - should keep an eye out for potholes during their work.
It arguably is not outside the purview of a police officer, whose job it is to keep students safe, to be observant of road obstructions that could damage students' cars - or worse, cause an accident because one driver needs to swerve out of the hole's path.
If police lead the charge for pothole reports, a basic road assessment could be in place, and additional complaints could help the city better determine which holes are most urgent.
When you hit a pothole, don't complain merely to your roommate. Give either the Isabella County Road Commission or the Mount Pleasant Department of Public Works - Street Department a call at 773-7131 and 779-5401, respectively.
