At the end of a coronial inquiry last year into the deaths of 19 people, Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich described the Princes Hwy as an unforgiving road where simple mistakes could turn fatal.
While police have yet to determine the exact cause of the horrific accident just north of Batemans Bay on Monday afternoon that claimed the lives of three people and injured at least six others, the coroner's view seems to fit this tragedy to a tee.
The section of road where the latest carnage occurred is narrow, undivided, and has a long history of crashes.
This newspaper has dubbed the Princes Hwy the Highway from Hell.
We have done so because more than 100 people have perished along a 470km stretch between Waterfall and the Bega Valley in the past seven years.
In 2006, an NRMA audit found the highway had the worst crash rate of any major highway in the state, while motorists also voted it the worst in the state.
As the death toll continues to rise, the highway continues to be a political football.
Appropriate upgrades to the highway are at snail's pace.
This is a highway that has long outgrown the demands placed on it by a growing population.
Again the Mercury asks both the State and Federal governments: How many lives must be lost before real action is taken?
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