Five people, including three children, were injured Wednesday morning in a two-vehicle, head-on collision on Dawsonville Highway (Hwy. 53) near the Dawson-Forsyth County line.

“One of the children was [taken to the hospital] in critical condition,” said Billy Thurmond, Dawson County Emergency Services director.

The wreck occurred about 6:45 a.m. in a sharp curve just east of War Hill Park Road.

According to an official with the Georgia State Patrol, 62-year-old Fredina Elrod of Gainesville was headed west on Hwy. 53 when the KIA Forte she was driving crossed the centerline in a curve and struck a pickup driven by Eugene Hintz, 48, of Cumming.

Emergency workers from Forsyth County took Elrod to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.

An ambulance took Elrod’s three passengers, ages 2, 4 and 6, to Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta.

Thurmond said Hintz was taken by private vehicle to Northside Hospital-Forsyth for evaluation.

Elrod has been charged with failure to maintain lane and a child restraint violation.

The busy highway reopened just after 8 a.m.