San Francisco officials have a pee problem, and it’s getting dangerous: a three-story tall lamp post corroded by urine snapped and fell over this week, crashing onto a nearby car and narrowly missing its driver.

It was apparently a perfect storm of conditions that led to the post’s downfall — too much urine, age and an oversized banner that was weighing it down, said San Francisco Public Utilities Commission officials.

Authorities say it could be a mix of animal and human urine that’s decaying the city’s lamp posts, reports the San Francisco Gate. Either way, take that micturition elsewhere, because urine speeds up the corrosion of the metal base of street poles.

“It has actually been an issue for us in the past,” PUC spokesman Tyrone Jue said. “We encourage people and dogs alike to do their business in other places, like a proper restroom or one of our fire hydrants, which are stronger and made out of cast iron.”

The PUC recently launched an assessment program to visually check every single one of the 25,000 light poles in the city, after getting a big budget boost last year for maintenance and replacement of the poles. About 100 street lights have been replaced so far.

Lamp post destroyed by urine falls in street, just misses driver [San Francisco Gate]

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