We've all had it happen before. You're driving down a highway or back road just minding your own business when BAM you hit a pothole.

If you're lucky you escape unscathed, and I'm sure I've made it out of this scenario with my car intact a lot of times.

But you specifically remember the times when it ends up damaging your car. In most cases causing low tire pressure. I know it's happened to me.

Would you believe me if I told you New Jersey ranks #6 in the nation for pothole complaints?

pothole
StockSolutions, ThinkStock
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That's right, celebrate it! We're not #1 on the list compiled by Stacker. Other states apparently have it worse.

It can seem impossible at times (especially with the amount of roadwork we have going on around the state) that our roads have so many of these. By the way, does that roadwork EVER seem to get done? I went to college for 4 years and graduated before Route 46 in Little Falls ever got finished.

But according to the article, New Jersey gets 16.5 pothole complaints for every 1,000 km (roughly 621 miles) of road. Good enough for 6th on the list.

Directly ahead of us are #5 California, #4 Massachusetts, #3 New York, #2 Hawaii, #1 Rhode Island. Sense any trend? It seems the east coast states have a bit of a problem with potholes.

pothole
Townsquare Media NJ
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It's not surprising that these states are the top 6 though as potholes are created by the roads not being able to withstand the weight of traffic.

Take Wyoming for example, who has the 2nd least pothole complaints. Who in the world is driving out there? New Jersey has roughly 9 million more people living in it with far less area. Our roads can't handle us!

If they can't handle our weight, wait until they find out about our attitude...

LOOK: Most dangerous states to drive in

Stacker used the Federal Highway Administration's 2020 Highway Statistics report to rank states by the fatalities per billion miles traveled. 

The scenic backroads to Long Beach Island

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kyle Clark. Any opinions expressed are his own.

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