BY IAN CROUCH

A teenager has been taken to hospital after an early morning crash at Rutherford.

Police say a 17-year-old girl was driving a Mazda 2 on the New England Highway at about 2.45am on Tuesday, when she lost control and the car crashed into traffic lights at the intersection of Wollombi Road.

NSW Ambulance says the girl was taken to the John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition with a leg injury.

A male passenger in his late teens was treated at the scene by paramedics for a minor neck injury.

Police are investigating whether speed was a factor in the crash.