I too hate this stuff. As said not a cost effective treatment at all. Aside failing to address the usual underlying problems and just disguise them, it's actually a difficult job to get right.
They recently did a 10 mile stretch of A road near me and it's now just 2 sets of black tramlines end to end and has to be done again. I believe it's very hard to get the correct amounts and temp of tar and grit and rolling it. Trouble is the muppets doing it are usually low grade contractors on a price per xx metres.
