'What I saw will stick with me for a long time,” says the man first on the scene of a crash that killed two people.

Police were called to the three-car crash on State Highway 26 at Eureka, between Hamilton and Morrinsville, shortly before 2pm on Tuesday.

Before they arrived, a man who lives nearby rushed out to find a man, woman, and baby in a black vehicle, which was most damaged in the crash.

People from two other cars had already escaped, said the man, who spoke to Stuff on the basis of anonymity.

The driver door had been ripped off in the crash.

The man told Stuff he reached into the back seat to check for the baby's pulse, but it was too late.

He says the baby was tiny, likely only a month old.

Everyone who was able to get out of their vehicle safely had, and all he could do was wait for emergency services.

The three to four minutes felt like an eternity to him.

'The people in the other two cars were just in shock,” he says.

One vehicle caught fire, the man says, but the occupant had already escaped.

Three people were injured in the three-car crash, one seriously and two with moderate injuries, a police spokesperson says.

The man told Stuff he had lived near the intersection for four years, and was shocked this was the first major crash.

He says maize obscured the view of people coming around the corner from Morrinsville, and turning into Hinton Road.

The man says motorcycles flew around the corner at 120km an hour, and people overtook each other, forgetting that motorists could be pulling out of Hinton Road.

A third person died on Waikato roads on Tuesday, after a separate crash in Waitoa about 4.10pm.

The crash involved a car and a truck, and happened on Waihekau Rd.

Matamata Piako Mayor Ash Tanner says the crashes are a reminder to be careful on the roads.

'It's summer-time, there are more cars on the road. It's a reminder for everyone to take extra care.

'My thoughts are with the families and friends of those who were killed in the accidents.”

Past work at his father-in-law's panel beating business gives Tanner a first-hand look at the damage road crashes cause.

'It's obviously devastating for those involved,” Tanner says.

-Stuff/Rachel Moore.