The female driver of a car which crashed about 30m down a bank is in a stable condition at Tauranga hospital.
The 18-year-old was found semi-conscious and slumped over in her car as rescuers came to her aid yesterday.
Bradley Burrell, 17, from Pyes Pa said he was heading towards Otumoetai when all of a sudden a car heading in the opposite direction appeared to lose control, veered across the road, through a fence and down the bank.
Mr Burrell, badly shaken, said he did not see what happened next but immediately pulled over told an older couple in the car in front to call 111 as he raced down the bank to help.
The driver's door was dented and jammed but he managed to pry it open. The young woman looked as though she was going to vomit so he helped her to sit up, he said.