The M1 at Mount Ousley was turned into a crime scene on Tuesday after another truck accident, this time leaving six people injured, two seriously.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A B-double heading southbound lost control just after New Mount Pleasant Road before slamming into two cars, one completely flipping and trapping its female driver.
Ambulance NSW Illawarra duty operations manager Inspector Norm Rees said the crash was almost in the exact spot as a similar incident he attended on Monday.
However, he said it was far worse a scene, due to the number of people injured and severity of injuries “spread over a bigger distance”, plus the amount of damage done to the vehicles.
Like the day before, Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) had to bring in bobcats to clear the motorway of debris.
This marks the third time since the closure of Bulli Pass in early October that the region has seen accidents shut down the M1 Princes Motorway. At least two of these accidents have created the worst traffic chaos the region has seen in two decades.
On October 7, a southbound semitrailer overturned on the motorway just days after the Bulli Pass closure.
Both southbound lanes were blocked for four hours, creating an eight-kilometre traffic jam. One northbound lane was also closed for a time for emergency services access.
To deal with the mess, RMS were forced to activate a contingency plan and reopen the pass. At that time, it was the longest full or partial closure of the motorway in the past two decades.
But then Monday happened.
That was when the load of a southbound truck flipped over the jersey barrier and collided with a northbound truck and sent the region’s roads into virtual gridlock.
The motorway was closed for six hours, with RMS again acting quickly to reopen the pass and vehicles in both directions backed up for at least five kilometres.
Alternate routes were found but they were soon congested, a breakdown on Bulli Pass exacerbating matters by causing one lane to close.
While there have been numerous instances where accidents have led to the partial closure of the motorway, this was only the second time in the last 20 years, the road has been completely shut down.
In July 2011, a tree fell on a truck, crushing the cabin and pinning the driver.
Even then, the total closure was only in place for two hours – a third of the time it took to clear Monday’s accident.
In terms of traffic nightmares over the past 20 years, this week’s accidents and the one in early October rank first, second and third.