A deadly two-car collision on the Sydney Harbour Bridge brought the city to a standstill on Thursday, leaving roads so congested a responding fire crew was forced to leave its truck and run to the crash site with life saving equipment.
One woman died and another was trapped in her car for more than two hours after two cars travelling in opposite directions collided head-on near the entrance to the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Millers Point.
Emergency services on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Thursday morning following a serious crash. Credit:Nine News
Five people required treatment after a red Mitsubishi Mirage travelling north crossed two lanes of traffic and collided with a black BMW heading south just after 7am. The BMW subsequently collided with a Jeep travelling in the same direction.
The crash occurred one hour after a separate incident where a driver found himself in the wrong lane approaching the city because a mechanical traffic island had not moved to correspond with road signs.
Police said the two events were unrelated and the earlier issue with the traffic island on the bridge was "completely rectified" by attending police and Transport Management Centre staff around 6am.
However crash investigators are still examining how the female driver of the Mitsubishi travelled from a southbound lane into a northbound lane in a horror crash, leaving the city in gridlock for hours.
From Edgecliff to Artarmon, Haberfield to Hunters Hill, Sydney stopped as the bridge was shut down to allow an ambulance helicopter to land on the bridge to bring blood and medical supplies.
The driver of the Mitsubishi died at the scene. Two of her passengers – both men aged 21 and 23 – were taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The younger man suffered head injuries and remains in a critical condition, while the older man remains in a stable condition.
The BMW driver, a 40-year-old woman, was freed from her vehicle by police rescue crews more than two hours after the incident, with crews using hydraulic-powered tools to cut through the roof of the car.
She was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with a fractured leg and spinal injuries and remains in a stable condition. Her passenger, a 40-year-old man, was uninjured and taken to Royal North Shore Hospital as a precaution.
The BMW driver was freed from her vehicle by police rescue crews more than two hours.Credit:Nine News
The Jeep driver, a 49-year-old woman, was als uninjured and taken to Sydney Hospital for mandatory testing.
Acting Superintendent Paul Dunstan said the driver of the Mitsubishi might have thought the southbound lane next to her was actually a northbound lane, due to a light traffic flow.
"We are looking at all circumstances that could have contributed to this incident," he said. Although he added that the "traffic conditions were marked out quite clearly in this instance".
But one hour earlier Jeremy Charlton, from Sydney's northern beaches, said traffic conditions were far from clear as he drove south over the bridge into the CBD.
Headed for Carrington Street near Wynyard, he was in the southbound lane following the sign for the city north when he noticed the mechanical island had not moved for the changed peak hour conditions.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed on Thursday morning after a fatal crash. Credit:Nine
"I realised I was on the wrong side of the island and heading into oncoming north-bound western distributor traffic."
Mr Charlton saw no other option but to drive his Kia Sportage over the island, almost getting stuck, before he "gunned it" and headed back into the city centre-city north lane.
"If it hadn't been so early it could have been potentially catastrophic, the way people are flying across that bridge," he said. "Nobody is going 70km/h. They are all going 80km/h."
While a little shaken, Mr Charlton said he was shocked further when just after 6am he heard a caller dial in to the Ben Fordham show on 2GB. (2GB is owned by Nine Entertainment Co. the publisher of the Herald.)
Gridlock on the approach to the Sydney Harbour Bridge after this morning's fatal crash. Credit:Nick Moir
"When you're coming into the city off the bridge," the caller said, "there are bollards that haven't been set up properly. Two cars just shot off the front of me and went, sort of that way, into oncoming traffic."
Mr Charlton said felt "kinda lucky" when he learned about the later fatal crash. Police on Tuesday evening maintained there was no link between the mechanical island and the crash.
In the hours it took to clear the crash site traffic remained banked up across the city.
Buses from the city's north that would usually cross the bridge were ending their journeys at North Sydney, Chatswood and Macquarie Park, while buses travelling through the city were terminating at Wynyard.
Sydney Trains asked passengers to maintain social distancing "as much as possible" due to an increase in patronage from the cancelled bus services
Around 25 police officers from Sydney City and North Shore, the crash investigation unit and traffic and highway patrol attended, as well as seven ambulance crews and three fire crews from City of Sydney, Crows Nest and The Rocks.
Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman Scott Dodson said a crew of four firefighters from The Rocks were among the first to respond to the crash and were forced to think quickly when they could not immediately get their truck through gridlocked traffic.
"They took it upon themselves to get there as quickly as possible. The driver stayed with the vehicle and the other three ran on foot, carrying life support equipment, including oxygen resuscitation and a defibrillator," he said.
"It was a really good leadership by the station chief to do that. I've been in Fire and Rescue 21 years and I've never done that.
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Lucy Cormack is a crime reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-08-27 09:45:00Z
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