At 7:40 p.m. Thursday, the driver of an SUV was critically injured in a single-vehicle crash on Poplar Ridge Road in Lexington Park.

Mary Jeanette Riffe, 49 of Hollywood, was driving a Ford Explorer north on the 35 mph road, when for unknown reasons she went off the side of the roadway and entered into a ditch. The vehicle continued to travel in the ditch until it struck a deep culvert, went airborne then struck the ground and overturned several times before coming to rest on the driver's side against a power pole in front of Lexington Estates trailer park.

First-arriving police and rescue volunteers discovered the driver had been ejected and thrown through a fence. Rescuers immediately determined the injuries to be life-threatening and dispatched a helicopter transport.

Volunteer Rescue Squad members stabilized the victim before removing her to a Maryland State Police helicopter, which landed at the ball diamond in Hermanville on Route 235.

Riffe was flown from the scene by Maryland State Police Helicopter Trooper 7 to Prince George's County Shock Trauma Unit where as of 7:45 a.m. Friday she was listed in critical condition.

Firefighters searched all areas near the crash scene for possible additional victims, finding none.

At the time of the collision, Riffe was not restrained by a seatbelt. The primary causes of the collision at this time are speed and driver error while other contributing factors are still under investigation, police report.

The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Reconstruction Team was on the scene for more than three hours investigating the crash Thursday night. The investigation continues.