Mental Floss

That's One Way to Get a Pothole Filled

By Beth Anne Macaluso

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Is that a pothole in your path, or are you just happy to see us?

If you're a resident of Bury, a town in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, it's been a little difficult to tell the difference lately. That's because an anonymous artist has been spray painting penises next to potholes in desperate need of attention. (Warning: the images below are penis drawings, and thus, probably NSFW.)

The potholes “don’t get filled,” the frustrated artist, who goes by Wanksy, tells the BBC’s Newsbeat. “Suddenly you draw something amusing around it, everyone sees it and it either gets reported or fixed.”

Here's a nice long one for you all. Posted by Wanksy - Road Artist on Saturday, April 18, 2015

Wanksy decided to take matters into his own hands after a few of his cyclist friends were injured riding on the pothole-ridden roads. Penises, it turns out, “are speedy. I don’t want to be in the road for a long time,” he explained in a separate interview with the Manchester Evening News.

Wanksy isn’t especially worried about getting in trouble, noting that all of the drawings are done using a semi-permanent spray paint that is “gone within a week or two. It’s a step up from chalk.” 

Unfortunately for the artist, local government officials think their public spaces should remain free from private parts. “Has this person, for just one second, considered how families with young children must feel when they are confronted with these obscene symbols as they walk to school?” a council spokesman said. “Painting obscenities around potholes will not get them repaired any quicker, and simply waste valuable time and resources.” (The artist counters that, “To be offended by that, you must be very prudish.”)

Another success story Posted by Wanksy - Road Artist on Friday, April 10, 2015

Whether or not you support his initiative, you have to give Wanksy credit for forcing public officials to take a long, hard look at the problems plaguing their roadways. Check out more of his handiwork here, and leave your best "That's what she said" jokes in the comments.

[h/t: BBC]