Karyn Hughes sat with a trapped woman, supporting her head and trying to keep her talking, after her car crashed into Kaitoke Hall.
"The poor woman was pretty distressed," Ms Hughes said.
The woman was one of two injured in the two-car crash on SH3 at Kaitoke around 1pm today.
Ms Hughes and her sister Yvonne Reeve were travelling together to their home in Hawera when they came across the crash, at the intersection of SH3 and Concord Line.
"We came around a bend and saw all this wood on the road, and we thought something's not right here," Ms Reeve said.