Sunshine Coast road chaos after bizarre accident

[whynot]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...6-3102,00.html

POLICE were amazed that a disastrous sequence of events did not end in tragedy on the Bruce Highway yesterday morning.

Traffic chaos unfolded when a car ran out of petrol at Palmview on the Sunshine Coast at 9am.

The driver pulled his late-model Toyota to the left side of southbound lanes and headed off to the garage at the nearby Ettamogah Pub.

After he left the car, it rolled across two lanes of the highway and came to a stop in the median strip.

A young Sunshine Coast woman saw the runaway car and, fearing for the safety of its driver, stopped at the side of the road and walked across to the median strip to check.

While standing in the median strip calling for help, she turned in horror to see a truck smash into the back of her Ford hatchback.

The truck then speared across the southbound lanes of the highway, crossed through a dip in the median strip and hurtled over the northbound lanes before landing in a ditch.

The truck miraculously avoided oncoming cars and its male driver suffered only minor injuries, but the woman's hatchback was destroyed.

The force of the crash pushed her car into a sign at the side of the highway before it rolled down an embankment and stopped on its side.

Sen-Sgt Sean McKay said the driver of the Toyota returned soon after, "oblivious" to what had happened. Police were investigating why his car had veered across the highway, but it's thought the handbrake had not been engaged.

"Nothing amazes me any more, in (terms of) the way accidents happen. It's just lucky no one was hurt," Sen-Sgt McKay said.

He said it was "unbelievable" no one had been killed or seriously injured.

Police said the incident was a reminder that minor oversights could lead to major accidents.

The visibly shaken driver of the Ford hatchback, her quest to help a stranger gone horribly wrong, watched as emergency workers winched her car on to a tow-truck.

Tyre marks and scratches were visible on all four lanes of the highway, left by the flat-tray truck, which was carrying a bobcat and excavator.

The accident caused traffic jams in both directions for about 30 minutes.