Hey Washington -- ever feel like you just don't have enough to worry about when it comes to walking down the street in your own neighborhood? Sure, there's the muggings and other crime, the street harassment, the killer Metrobuses, the screwed up pedestrian signals, the bicyclists vs. the drivers, and the occasional jaywalking sting, but really, who couldn't use one more thing to add to the list of stuff that makes you never want to leave the house? Behold: an increase in manhole mishaps! Quoth the Examiner:

The number of manhole mishaps in the District this year already has eclipsed those in all of 2006, though the severity of the incidents — specifically, 300-pound manhole covers firing violently into the air — appears to be lessened by Pepco’s use of slotted lids.

Between Jan. 1 and June 30, Pepco reported 62 manhole episodes throughout D.C. — 36 smoking, 20 explosions and six fires — up from 58 in 2006.

That's a whole lot of smoking, exploding and fir-- well, you get the idea. Pepco has actually recently stopped replacing solid manholes with the safer slotted ones, a program which began a few years back after a rash of explosions in Georgetown and Logan Circle, saying they've already covered all the areas where it makes sense to install them, in pedestrian-heavy areas. That means of course that any street without a heavy pedestrian presence, like quieter residential blocks, are the ones most likely to be the next victims of this terrible menace. Pepco also recently rejected the D.C. Public Service Commission’s request to inspect every manhole in the city by 2012, saying that there's no inherent benefit to inspection more often than every ten years. So the next time you get up the courage to head out on foot, watch where you're going out there, D.C., because no one else is watching for you.

Photo by Samer Farha