RESERVE MINES, N.S. -- A stretch of road in Reserve Mines, N.S., is littered with potholes and was the talk of the town Wednesday after a local cab driver hit one of them and wound up in the hospital.

"It's the first time in about 20 years I've been scared in a car," said David Vaters.

Vaters is having a hard time getting around and says he's still in pain after being involved in a single-vehicle car crash that he says was caused by a pothole.

"I'm in constant pain from my hip," Vaters said. "I couldn't feel my leg until about a half hour ago. My back is killing me, my neck is killing me."

The crash happened on a busy stretch of roadway in Reserve Mines just before 8 a.m. Wednesday.

It's littered with potholes for about five kilometres and there are also plenty of damaged hubcaps on the side of the road.

Bazil Vaters left work to be at the hospital Wednesday morning with his son, who was driving cab at the time of the crash.

"If they don't do something soon, somebody is going to get killed," Bazil Vaters said.

Vaters says the stretch of road is bad every winter, but this year it seems to be worse.

"Pylons are in the holes," he said. "It's like an obstacle course going through Reserve. It's ridiculous."

Mike MacGillvary owns Marg's Taxi and was surveying the damage done to his vehicle Wednesday morning that he estimates will cost more than a $1,000 to fix.

"Today, we are very fortunate that there was nobody in the taxi car as a passenger," MacGillvary said. "There was just the driver. It could have been a lot worse then what it was."

It didn't take long for the Department of Transportation to show up and start filling the holes by mid-morning.

It's something many drivers on the road feel should have been done long ago,

"Today, we were out there with the asphalt recycler, so that's basically recycling old asphalt and that's a little more strength, so we're hoping that's going to hold up a little more," said Cody Roland, the area manager for the Department of Transportation.

The Department of Transportation says the high volume of traffic on the road and the steady stream of coal trucks is taking its toll.

There are plans to repave the road in the future, but for now all they can do is patch work.

"We have to keep our cars road worthy; why doesn't the government have to keep the roads car worthy?" David Vaters said. "No car should be on this. I've been on back dirt roads four-wheeling with my truck, and those roads were in better shape."

Vaters is one frustrated driver who is left feeling the pain from a road that has seen better days.