Six in hospital, massive traffic delays in Brisbane after 11-car dawn pile up closes M1
One of the most extensive accidents on the Pacific Motorway in years has seen six people rushed to hospital and brought city-bound traffic to a standstill on Tuesday morning.
Police said 11 cars were involved in a major pileup at 5.55am on the motorway’s northbound lanes near the Juliette St on ramp at Greenslopes. That crash was followed by a series of more minor accidents around the initial incident.
All northbound lanes on the motorway were completely blocked for up to 20 minutes, with delays and snarls occurring until about 10am, police said. Delays were reported to be lasting up to an hour, with traffic on the M1 backed up to about 15 kilometres south of the crash.
Police have asked motorists to delay any planned travel on the motorway.
The crash has also contributed to delays on the Gateway Motorway and other alternative routes into the city.
The initial pileup caused serious damage to the vehicles involved, with five ambulances called to the scene and six people taken to hospital. However, none of their injuries were believed to be serious and the Queensland Ambulance Service reported them in a stable condition.
Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Todd Sucic said the cars involved in the accident may have been travelling at 100 km/h.
“For whatever reason, there was a sudden stop in traffic,” he said.
He said the weeks of rain had likely contributed to the incident, with the roads extremely wet.
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“We are extremely lucky that we walked away with no fatalities.”
He said more information would come from an investigation into the incident.
“We will be interviewing everyone involved,” he told the ABC.
“I can’t remember the last time that we’ve had an accident of this magnitude on our motorways.
“It might take us a while but we’ll get there.”
