Road surfaces need to be coated with a layer of durable and tough rubber compound "durex" (with a larger hardness index than car tyre rubber). The "durex" would act as a second suspension, enabling enhanced two way shock absorbtion.
The net benefit: reduced wear on car hardware, and road infrastructure. Shocks would be spread out over a greater area, creating less wear on the road, while cushioning our car's shock absorbers from the harsh blow.
If potholes and other road deteriation were to form, drivers would not have to risk their lives swurving to dodge an ugly pothole combo in their lane, simply riding over it and enjoying the bouncy goodness.
The blend would have to be finely tuned to keep costs reasonable, while maintaining firmness.-- proto13, Mar 26 2004 Cool. A flammable road surface. Wonder how easy it is to get out of control on a "bouncy" road?-- Nitehawk, Mar 26 2004 It would increase fuel consumption, in much the same way as having too-soft tires does.
And can nobody spell "absorption"?-- kropotkin, Mar 26 2004 no.
What about harmonic resonance?-- st3f, Mar 26 2004 This is an absurdly roundabout way of avoiding the fixing the actual problem you cite, which is the potholes themselves.-- DrCurry, Mar 26 2004 What we need is a new form of asphalt that wears like concrete.-- Nitehawk, Mar 26 2004 If the road were made out of rubber, you could then install concrete wheels on your car, greatly extending their durability.-- AO, Mar 26 2004 It should be mandatory for all cars to have a bag of concrete and a few gallons of water in the trunk. If a driver encounters an annoying pothole s/he is required by law to stop and fill it in.
Police can set up pot hole traps. They knock a hole into the pavement and anyone who drives by without fixing it gets a ticket. Revenue can be used to fix non-pothole problems like bridge support beams.-- kbecker, Mar 26 2004 That must be what it means when the sign says, "Maintain current lane."-- AO, Mar 26 2004 Why do I have an image in my head of an overturned lorry packed to the gunnels with condoms?-- suctionpad, Mar 26 2004 random, halfbakery