The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

Brilliant.. I wish there was a flat surface on the roads here big enough to leave one of those down..

...oooor...

I swear, since the "big freeze" (Known as winter in the rest of europe), the "r" roads have all been made entirely of holes.. Much like swiss cheese or the moon.

Oh we were lucky down home, the craters were there, but instead of ripping up the old broken, uneven, destroyed beyond repair surface, the council put down loads of tarmac, that'll sort it! Especially if its put down in the p1ssing rain, directly in on top of water flooded holes! What happened next day? It all came out again, DOOOOHHHH!!! They really are a bit thick when it comes to stuff like that, any surface thats that bad should be totally redone, they spend more by fecking about with a shovel and a lorry of tar 5 times a year than they would be redoing it once and for all. And then theres about 10 of them standing around it, 2 of them holding walkie talkies pretending to do something.

According to this email forward, fake potholes are being placed on roadways in order to slow down drivers in an innovative attempt to combat the problem of speeding. The first two photographs show what appear to be quite large and deep potholes in the lanes of a busy motorway. However, the last photograph shows that the "potholes" are in fact strategically positioned stickers that have been placed on the roadway. Although they only consist of flat images of potholes, the stickers would look three dimensional and quite realistic to approaching drivers.

However, the stickers are not used as speed limiting devices as claimed in the message. The text painted on the roadway a few meters ahead of each pothole sticker show their real purpose. In reality, they were used as part of an advertisement for Pioneer Suspension, a vehicle suspension supplier. The ad was intended to suggest to drivers that, with Pioneer Suspension fitted to their vehicles, they would enjoy a smooth ride even on rough roads. Information about the ad published on the Ads of The World website notes:

POTHOLE STICLER - A large sticker of a pothole was laid on the road creating the illusion of a real pothole. Drivers would see it and slow down to avoid the jerk to their car but would feel nothing. The message "FEELS LIKE PIONEER SUSPENSION" was painted a few meters ahead.

According to Ads of the World, the ad was created by Advertising Agency, Y&R Everest, Mumbai, India in 2007. It is unclear under what conditions or circumstances the advertising tactic was carried out. As many commentators have noted, unless the tactic was used in very controlled conditions, such fake potholes could actually be quite dangerous. Approaching drivers could swerve suddenly to avoid the "pothole" and serious accidents could result.