Car catches air after hitting Saskatoon pothole

A Saskatoon driver's quick reaction saved him from a hefty car-repair bill, but others weren't so lucky.

On his way home from work Tuesday night, Jared Rusch, 25, said the trip down 8th Street was business as usual until he quickly met a gaping hole in curb lane.

• City of Saskatoon estimates 100,000 potholes filled in 2015
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"I didn't see any signs or a pothole warning or anything like that so I was going 50 km/h and it wasn't until the last second where I slammed on the brakes, but it wasn't enough and my car went flying and I almost lost control and it was kind of freaky because there's other cars around me," Rusch said.

Rusch immediately pulled over to assess any damage to his car and he also went back to the crater to snap a few pictures.

"While I was taking pictures cars were flying left and right over it so I took a video," saidRusch, and that's where he captured a few scary seconds of a car's backendflying through the air after hitting the hole in the road.

Rusch said that's likely what would've happened to him had he not had the reaction time to slam on the brakes.

"It might not have been as bad because I did brake quite a bit but it was still violent."

Shortly after recording the footage of the airborne car, Rusch contacted Public Works at the City of Saskatoon to report the issue and the City had the area blocked off with pylons Wednesday morning.

City needs hot-mix asphalt for big patch jobs

A City spokesperson said the gap in the road is a utility cut and crews need the help of a grader to fill in the hole.. The City said they know of about 567 utility cuts throughout the city which result from excavations required to connect, repair or maintain underground utilities.

The City said utility cuts are being maintained as required until they can be properly and permanently paved with hot-mix asphalt once the ground has thawed.

For now, Rusch is relieved he didn't hit the utility cut at full speed, but he's still waiting to get his sedan looked at to make sure nothing came loose. The same couldn't be said last year when he blew a tire on a pothole.

"It's been a problem for years but it's never been this bad, usually it's more of a hill than a pothole, but apparently they've done work and they just fill it with gravel and the melting snow doesn't help," Rusch said, adding he feels the city didn't need to wait for his phone call to do something about it.

"It's better to have less lanes than it is to have cars flying a ramp at 50km/h."