Police were called to a head-on crash near Aongatete on Sunday. Photo / George Novak
The road was closed for several hours and diversions put in place.
A rescue helicopter was also called to the scene.
A motorist, who drove past just minutes after the crash, said she saw a car down the bank and another in the middle of the road "very smashed up".
Emergency services at the scene of a serious crash near Aongatete. Photo / George Novak
The motorist, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she believed someone was trapped in one of the vehicles.
Two other serious crashes were reported within 24 hours of one another.
Early on Sunday, police were called to Tauriko, near the intersection of Sycamore Rise and Cambridge Rd, at 4.31am after a crash involving a motorcycle. The rider died at the scene.
A rescue helicopter was called to the scene of a crash near Aongatete. Photo / George Novak
The person's name has not been released yet.
Just 24 hours earlier, police were called to Pyes Pa Rd after a car rolled, trapping a man underneath and leaving the female driver screaming in pain.
The crash happened about 4.30am on Saturday and the trapped male passenger had to be extricated by attending firefighters, a police spokesperson said.
A 29-year-old man was rushed to Tauranga Hospital with what was believed to be critical injuries.
A 22-year-old woman driving the car was also taken to hospital in a serious condition.
The scene where a motorcyclist was killed after crashing near the intersection of Sycamore Rise and Cambridge Rd. Photo / George Novak
A stretch of highway between Keenan Rd and Merrick Rd was closed for a time while the Serious Crash Unit examined the scene.
A Pyes Pa Rd resident said he and his wife were woken by an "almighty bang" and shaking of their house.
"It sounded and felt like it was an earthquake and as I rolled over to check I saw the time and it was bang on 4.30am."
The man said his wife then heard someone screaming out for help and found a car resting on the passenger door side in the culvert beside the main road.
"A man who must have been flung from the car was lying underneath near the back section of the car. I could only see his head and the car was resting on his chest.
"While the injured man was breathing he was unresponsive and clearly in a bad way."
The resident said another man driving home from work also stopped to help after he described seeing the crashed car "tumbling down the road" towards his vehicle.
"We used a jack to lift the car slightly to take the pressure off the injured driver's chest. "
The distressed female occupant was in a lot of pain after she had fractured her femur above the knee during the crash, he said.
The resident said the crashed vehicle hit a shelter belt beside a fence on his neighbours' property and narrowly missed a power pole before it came to rest in the culvert.
"If the stopped motorist had been about 10 seconds earlier in his journey home the car could easily have collected his vehicle as it tumbled down the road," he said.
The neighbouring couple also helped and tried to comfort the injured woman who was screaming in pain and did not want to be touched until emergency services staff arrived.
The site where a car came to rest after it rolled on Pyes Pa Rd, trapping the driver. Photo /Andrew Warner
The couple said the impact of the crash resulted in their mailbox being flung high into the air, landing in their front yard, metres from the front door.
"If the fence wasn't there the car could have ended up crashing into our house," they said.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
A Tauranga Hospital spokesperson said the 22-year-old injured woman was in a stable condition in a ward.
