CLAUDE SAVARIA
PHOTO EDITOR

Bad drivers, a whirlwind of cyclists, foolish pedestrians, and streetcar tracks: driving in Toronto can be dangerous. As if those obstacles aren’t enough, Toronto drivers also have to contend with degraded roads throughout the entire city.
It is enough to make one scream. And I do, every time I drive.
While I have always found it a nuisance to have to swerve every two minutes to avoid a pothole, I never truly realized the extent of damage they can do to my car.
Driving eastbound on Eglinton Avenue last January, I found out the hard way.
I saw a large pothole but due to the congestion on the roads, I had no way of avoiding it. I was driving roughly 50 km/h when my car’s front right tire hit the mammoth hole. Cruising along afterwards, I thought I might have at worst sprung a slow leak.
Finally finding a spot to pull over, I got out to inspect the damage. Slow leak. Ha! I don’t believe I have ever seen a tire as torn to shreds as this one was.
I survived, and so did the rotor on my wheel, but my driving habits haven’t been the same since. No longer is my number one concern pedestrians or cyclists. Now when I drive, I stare at the ground, ducking and dodging what seems like a ridiculous number of potholes that continue to multiply instead of decrease.
While we cannot control the actions of pedestrians, cyclists, or other drivers do, we should have a say in the condition of our roads. After all, we pay taxes so that they are maintained.
Outside of my apartment, the city recently filled about six potholes, which had driven me crazy on a daily basis, but were not the most in need of fixing. Instead of a real repair, they merely patched them up, and I have no doubt that they will be potholes again within a year.
Is this what our taxes are going towards? Quick fixes in unnecessary places, while roads that are used on a daily basis by most of the city remain unattended to. The problem is not limited to potholes, but the deterioration of roads overall. There is no word to describe the endless cracks and bumps on major roads such as Bloor and Queen Streets.
The city comes up with various solutions every spring, when the wear of the winter is reflected on the roads, and the wrath of the drivers is felt by city c councilors.
At a news conference about a year ago, Glen De Baeremaeker, chair of public works and infrastructure committee, said all potholes reported would be fixed within five days.
While the number of calls the city received is unknown, the problem seems to have gotten worse over the last year.
According to the City of Toronto’s website, it costs $25 to fix a pothole.  In 2008, the city says it fixed over 275,000 potholes. That means the city spent just under $7 million on potholes.
In Toronto’s 2008 city budget, $259 million was allocated to the transportation department, which handles the roads, the sidewalks, the bridges and culverts, crosswalks, bike lanes and bike trails.
That is $7 million of $259 million, which went to putting band-aids on potholes. Perhaps if the city fixed the roads as opposed to patching potholes up, the problem would die down and save the city money in the long-term, while allowing drivers to only have to worry about other lousy drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Here’s wishing.