# Is painting potholes vandalism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873 "2012-06-21T19:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hairy\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hairy\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hairy_Bob)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/1 "2012-06-21T19:10:17Z")
As per title. I came across this picture [http://xaxor.com/funny-pics/40381-Funny--DIY-dealing-with-potholes.html](http://xaxor.com/funny-pics/40381-Funny--DIY-dealing-with-potholes.html) which suggests a fun way of dealing with potholes is to paint around them to make them stand out, and be pretty. It goes on to make the dubious claim that the next day, the potholes had all been repaired and the paint removed. What I want to know is; if you were to put paint all over the road like that, could the city fine you for cleaning it up? Prosecute you for vandalism? Is it different from doing it to a building somehow? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/2 "2012-06-21T23:30:36Z")
If you don’t own the street, and you don’t have the owner’s permission, then it can most certainly be considered vandalism. Now, if your art is pretty enough, they might decide after the fact that they don’t mind, but that’s a separate issue. ---
**Author:** ![bot3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bot3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bot3)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/3 "2012-06-21T23:34:40Z")
Chronos is correct. But in this case graffiti actually does some good. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/4 "2012-06-21T23:38:50Z")
when people get to know the paint is to warn of a hole then you might have people avoiding an exhole and cause an accident. having a road crew fix the hole and remove the painted warning takes time and money better spent fixing holes. ---
**Author:** ![bot3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bot3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bot3)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/5 "2012-06-21T23:46:19Z")
If a driver can’t safely negotiate a painted pot hole, then they don’t deserve to drive. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/6 "2012-06-22T00:01:22Z")
Or you could just call the city and tell them about the pothole, especially if they’re so very responsive that they’ll notice and fix a pothole within a day of someone just painting around it. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/7 "2012-06-22T00:01:49Z")
That series of pictures implies (but doesn’t actually say that I noticed) that people might have been complaining of potholes for a long time, then got frustrated with city maintenance inaction, then painted those holes like that as a means of public protest to call attention to the problem – with salubrious results. If that is so, and if the city were to prosecute them for vandalism and try to bill them for paint removal, and if the “vandals” had records or newspaper articles or whatever to document their case, THEN what do you suppose the outcome would be? Case dropped? Thrown out by judge? Laughed out of the jury room by the jurors? Big bad press in the local papers? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/8 "2012-06-22T00:03:08Z")
What the… those aren’t potholes. Try driving in the Twin Cities during the two weeks of Spring between Winter and Road Repair. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-painting-potholes-vandalism/625873/9 "2012-06-22T00:57:35Z")
> [@bot3](#): > > If a driver can’t safely negotiate a painted pot hole, then they don’t deserve to drive. Well, yes and no… Looking at some of those pictures, I thought they could constitute a road hazard, by being excessively distracting. Drivers already have an awful lot of things they have to pay close attention to: additional distractions are, at very least, not helpful. On the other hand, I can certainly see the value to a simple outline of the pothole in white paint. That could help prevent a driver from hitting it at an unsafe speed. So: outlines, yes, but ornate artistry, no.