Man is threatened with police action after painting 100 penises over potholes in New Zealand
- Geoff Upson has painted more than 100 penises to draw attention to road issues
- He hopes the lewd graffiti will motivate authorities to fix potholes and bumps
- Auckland Transport has threatened police action over the ‘dangerous’ drawings
A New Zealand man who has painted more than 100 penises around potholes in Auckland has been threatened with police action.
Geoff Upson, a road safety campaigner, has spent three years trying to draw attention to the uneven roads in his home town.
He hopes the lewd graffiti will motivate authorities to fix the potholes after trying and failing to get them sorted through the normal channels.
Geoff Upson, a road safety campaigner, has spent three years trying to draw attention to the uneven roads in his home town
But now Auckland Transport has promised to take action against him after he was reported to the police for his latest stunt, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Officials said the drawings were a safety risk because they could be a distraction for drivers, as well as concerns for Mr Upson’s wellbeing while carrying out the graffiti on the road.
He said: ‘If they come out and fix the road then 100 per cent of my drawing will be removed.’
Mr Upson previously said he was disappointed at the level of service he received when trying to get the road fixed and so tried the more unorthodox approach.
He hopes the lewd graffiti will motivate authorities to fix the potholes after trying and failing to get them sorted through the normal channels
‘We pay huge amounts of money with road user charges and fuel tax. A basic level of responsibility should be a flat road surface,’ Mr Upson wrote in the caption to a video of one of his early drawings.
Other road users also chimed in on the state of the road saying they were frustrated the problem had not been fixed.
‘That part of the road is ridiculous. I always forget about it and cringe when I hear my suspension crunch going over it,’ said one commenter.
When asked what he thought of young children seeing the graffiti the self-employed tradesman said he thought children should not be sheltered from the real world.
‘I think if children are sheltered and not taught things that are a part of the real world then these things will come as a huge shock later in life. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for children to be exposed to ordinary things in the world,’ he said.
Mr Upson has previously campaigned to make his region’s roads safer by implementing better education programs for young drivers and building more passing bays on open roads, among other initiatives.