Five people were injured Thursday in a three-car collision south of Lawrence at a U.S. Highway 59 intersection well known for accidents.

The collision left two people in critical condition at Kansas City-area hospitals.

“I’ve seen at least three accidents here in the last three years,” Kenneth Turner, 69, said as he watched rescue efforts at the highway’s intersection with Douglas County Road 458.

“It looks like they need some kind of light here or something,” said Turner, who lives nearby.

Two people were taken by helicopter to Kansas University Medical Center, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.

They were identified as Rochelle M. Edwards, 21, and Ricky D. Hobbs Jr., 24, both of Lyndon. Edwards, listed in the Kansas University directory as a sophomore, was in critical condition and Hobbs was in fair condition Thursday night, a hospital nursing supervisor said.

Martin L. Belcher, 47, Eudora, was taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where he was in fair condition Thursday night, a nursing supervisor said.

Wayne G. Kurtz initially was taken by ambulance to LMH and then transferred to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. He was in critical condition, a hospital official said.

Darwin W. Kurtz was listed by the Highway Patrol as being taken to LMH, but hospital officials said they had no record of him being treated in the emergency room.

The accident occurred shortly before noon when a southbound 1994 Ford pickup truck struck the rear of a 2001 Dodge pickup truck, the Highway Patrol said. The Dodge then struck the third vehicle, a 1998 Chevrolet car, head-on in the northbound lane.

Mark McCarthy, 46, Lawrence, was one of the motorists who stopped to help after the accident. McCarthy commended the driver of a southbound semi-tractor trailer for being able to stop his truck just behind the wreck.

“It would have been a lot worse if not for that driver,” McCarthy said. “He did an excellent job of getting stopped.”

The semi driver also got out to help the injured.

“I was shutting it down pretty quickly,” he said of his rig. “I went over to the blue car, and there wasn’t anything I could do. They were stuck in there.”

The semi driver would not give his name.

On Christmas Eve, a man was killed and four people were injured in a three-vehicle accident at the intersection.