A witness recalls a tense scene when two people were taken to hospital following a two-vehicle crash on Highway 3 in Essex.

Police say the two occupants of the one vehicle were transported to an area hospital, with one woman reported to have life-threatening injuries. The other man has serious injuries.

The collision took place between County Road 8 and Victoria Avenue around 12 p.m. Friday.

Two vehicles could be seen in the ditch about 100 feet apart.

The female driver of one of the vehicles took the brunt of the crash.

Victoria Mouck came to the aid of the 20-year-old driver.

“She was talking. Not much, but grunting and hurt,” says Mouck. “(I) climbed in and helped hold the young lady's head. She's seriously injured.”

Mouck quickly realized the young lady and her father, who was a passenger in the car, were family friends.

She says the driver was a student at St. Clair College and the passenger was her father. Both were taken to hospital.

“She was just coming from writing an exam in Windsor. He tried to pass or something and they hit head on,” says Mouck.

Police say the driver of the other vehicle, a van, left the scene of the crash before officers got there. They are asking witnesses to step forward.

“He took off up the road and one of the women helping she took off after him to see if she could stop him but somebody picked him up,” says Mouck. “I have no idea who he is.”

Another witness described the driver as a hefty six-foot tall person who did check on the well-being of those in the car.

“Nothing. Didn't walk that way at all,” says Mouck.

The crash renewed a call by local New Democrat MPP Taras Natyshak for the provincial government to widen highway 3.

“There's no question,” says Natyshak. “This is something our community has railed against for the last 20 years. The fact that the governments have ignored the need for us to widen that highway.”

Natyshak pointed to a promise made by Ontario Premier Doug Ford during his campaign last year.

Premier Ford said last year that “we will make sure that we twin that road and make sure that there's no more accidents on there again.”

Natyshak says he hopes at some point a good lawyer grabs a hold of this and sues the provincial government for their negligence on this.

“They lied to us,” says Natyshak. “They've stalled the project but unfortunately what they've done they passed a bill that makes them free from any legal or civil action.”

Natyshak goes on to say every injury and death that occurs on that highway belongs to the provincial government and the minister of transportation.

OPP Const. Jim Root says there are no specifics on who was at fault, but they are investigating the cause of the crash.