WITH one woman trapped and screaming and another trying to help her two injured children in a three-car accident, Trevor Smith did what he thought any caring person would do.

He pulled over and helped where he could.

But the Cardiff man has been left aghast after dozens of drivers manoeuvred around the scene of the nasty accident near Stanford Merthyr yesterday – some even driving over large pieces of debris to continue on their journey.

‘‘What if that was their daughter or grandchildren?’’ Mr Smith said. ‘‘I believe in karma and I think these people need to stop and have a bloody good look at themselves. 

‘‘They know who they are, and they should be ashamed of themselves.’’

Traffic stopped on John Renshaw Drive only when emergency services arrived and began treating five injured people, as members of the Cessnock volunteer rescue squad worked to cut one woman free from the wreckage.

The woman, 55,  suffered fractures to a leg and was stabilised by paramedics before being flown by Hunter Westpac rescue helicopter to John Hunter Hospital.

Her Hyundai sedan had been involved in a front-on collision with a utility  about 9.50am. 

The second car spun into the path of a third car.

Mr Smith said he was about eight cars behind the accident and saw a cloud of dust before realising there had been a significant  crash.

He  watched as the other cars in front of him drove around the scene and continued on. 

More motorists behind him also failed to help out. And he said another female motorist got angry with emergency services when they finally closed the road, stating she was supposed to be picking up some nuts and bolts for her husband.

‘‘I had to stay with the injured woman, she was screaming in agony, and I stood there, I watched on as they just kept driving past,’’ Mr Smith said. 

‘‘I thought, ‘Is someone going to bother to stop and help us out or what?’. I just thought, ‘What is going on here?’  

‘‘Surely the first reaction should be to stop and help, not driving over the debris and continuing on. I didn’t particularly like [being at the scene] but surely there is no other choice but to help.

‘‘If you saw how distraught this woman was, you couldn’t do anything but help.’’

Inspector Tim Seymour, of Central Hunter police, said although he would encourage people to stop and call for assistance from authorities, it was not uncommon for motorists not to stop at accidents.

‘‘People can be in shock when these things happen; maybe they don’t really understand what is going on and they can have personal reasons why they feel they cannot stop,’’ Inspector Seymour said.

John Renshaw Drive remained closed for two hours as the wreckage was taken away.

The other female driver,  in her 20s, along with her two boys, aged 3  and  2, suffered minor injuries and were taken by ambulance to the John Hunter in a stable condition.

The utility driver, a man aged 60, and his 23-year-old male passenger also suffered minor injuries.

‘‘The message is clear. If you are in an accident, don’t expect people to stop and help,’’ Mr Smith said. ‘‘If it is anything like this, you will be lucky to get anyone to help out.’’