Woman airlifted to Macon hospital in one of two crashes on I-75 in Houston County

A woman was airlifted to a Macon hospital early Friday after a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 75 in Houston County.

It was the first of two morning crashes on the interstate there.

About 5:30 a.m., Michael Ponder was driving a Nissan Altima north on I-75 in the right lane and rolled onto the right shoulder. Ponder overcorrected and veered across all lanes and struck a guardrail, Georgia State Patrol Cpl. Phillip Kilgore said in an email.

The guardrail went through the front passenger side door and pinned the front seat passenger, 27-year-old Aviance Thompson. Thompson was airlifted to the Medical Center, Navicent Health. She was in critical condition late Friday afternoon.

Two other passengers, both children, were also taken to the Medical Center to be checked and were found to be uninjured, Kilgore said.. Ponder was taken to Houston Medical Center, where he was treated for his injuries and released.

All of the occupants are from Margate, Florida. They were not thought to be wearing seat belts, according to a GSP release.

The crash near mile marker 135 had blocked two lanes. The agency's Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is helping with the investigation.

The second crash, at 7:15 a.m., was south of the first crash and involved two vehicles.

A Dodge Ram pickup rear-ended a tractor-trailer. The driver of the vehicle that struck the tractor-trailer was taken to the Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, the release said.

This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Woman airlifted to Macon hospital in one of two crashes on I-75 in Houston County."