Fresh from a trip to China and Indonesia, Mayor Bloomberg is turning his attention away from issues of international importance and toward one that is decidedly local: potholes.

At his first public event since returning to New York from his week-long travels abroad, Mr. Bloomberg kicked off the start of pothole season by urging New Yorkers to call the city’s help hotline, 311, to report any craters in the road.

The city fills the equivalent of 22 potholes every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In the past five months, more than 70,000 potholes have been filled. Mr. Bloomberg said that since 2002, the city has filled 1.25 million potholes.

Although potholes may not be the most glamorous item on Mr. Bloomberg’s to-do list, he tried to draw a connection yesterday between filling holes in the ground and the essence of government. He said the city’s efforts to keep streets in good repair is making a vital difference when it comes to traffic fatalities, which are down more than 20% since 2001.

“That’s one of the factors that goes into this amazing statistic that life expectancy in New York is now greater than in the country as a whole,” he said. “In the end, that really is the essence of government. What we are supposed to be doing is letting people live longer and enjoy the wonderful things about America.”

Potholes appear in the road most often in winter, when rainwater and runoff from melting snow seeps beneath roadways and subsequently expands when it freezes. Mr. Bloomberg said 99% of all potholes reported to the city are repaired within 30 days, a jump from the 65% of reported potholes filled within 30 days in 2002.

“Now, potholes are as much a part of city life as hot dog carts and yellow cabs, although that hasn’t stopped us from doing everything we can to fix them once they appear,” he said.

Yesterday also marked the end of the city’s repaving season. The city has paved 5,000 lane-miles of streets since 2002, the equivalent of a quarter of all city streets receiving a new coat of pavement since 2002.