Motorway madness
Erratic, bizarre and just daft driving on the M1
Most people who drive the M1 regularly have stories to tell of hair-raising driving behaviour they have witnessed.
Sometimes, it’s caught on camera, such as these examples of the daring, the daft and the truly bizarre during 2023.
RUBBISH DRIVING
We reckon this elderly driver was wheelie pushing his luck.
In January, he was spotted dragging a wheelie bin from a small silver car while driving on the M1 in Worongary.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” a witness said.
“(The driver) was an elderly man, around 85 years old.
“The wheels were sliding around and I thought I probably shouldn’t be near him because the bin could fall off.”
SUDDEN HALT In May, a Honda Civic driver went viral
after being filmed driving into a stationary line of traffic on the M1 near Oxenford.
The force of the impact threw the last vehicle in line into the next lane of traffic.
The accident provoked amazement in viewers, who questioned why the driver had failed to spot the hazard.
They also sympathised with the innocent victims.
“Imagine seeing that car flip in your rear vision mirror and probably being hit as a result,” one person said. “Would have definitely needed new undies.”
LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT
In March, drivers were shocked to see a man hanging out the side of a sedan as it barrelled down the motorway.
Initially he was upright with his entire torso outside of the car. He was then seen leaning back, with his head less than a metre from the road.
The car appeared to be travelling at considerable speed at the time.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
We all know that tailgating can be a real problem. So can road rage.
The two issues combined in this incident, which emerged in a video in May.
A ute was filmed tailgating a Kia at night on the M1 in Elanora before both vehicles stopped. A person then got out of the ute and approaching the Kia, which sped off.
It was not clear what sparked the incident.
ME FIRST
We all see them – the drivers who squeeze into tiny gaps to get that little bit further up in the traffic.
It takes a certain amount of derring-do to make sure you get that extra car length ahead. And, many would say, bloodyminded stupidity.
A video, shared to
Reddit in
October, may be the one of the finest examples of the genre yet seen.
Taken on the southbound on-ramp at Exit 57 in Oxenford, an unfortunate P-plater had to move to the right to avoid a ute pulling a trailer that squeezed through from a lane that had largely ceased to be.
The same ute had previously cut him off at the intersection, which is notorious as a hotspot for crashes.
NOT MOTORWAY MATERIAL An MP was left aghast
to see an electric scooter rider zipping through traffic on the M1 on Friday December 1.
Theodore MP Mark Boothman said he could hardly believe his eyes when the man shot past his car while driving on the motorway southbound between the Helensvale North and Helensvale South exits.
“I was doing about 65km/h with the traffic, and he would have been doing at least 80km/ h, maybe 85km/h,” Mr Boothman said.
“He was actually weaving into the traffic as he got to
Brisbane Rd. Just seeing this person fly past me going at least 80km/h on a very busy Friday afternoon, when the traffic was travelling at about 60, maybe 70km/h, it just makes you think, does this person have a death wish?”
Road rules state that escooters should only be ridden on certain roads with a speed limit of 50km/h or less. The maximum speed allowed for escooters on roads is 25km/h.
MOTORBIKE STACKS IT In November, dashcam footage captured the moment a motorcyclist
lost control on the M1 at Ormeau and ran into the back of a car.
“I was about 100m back from where this happened when everyone hit the brakes, the rider was filtering/splitting too fast for the traffic build up, only reason I looked at the bike I thought to myself he’s got a lot of speed going on,” one person wrote.
Luckily, the rider only suffered minor injuries and did not need to be taken to hospital.
Less fortunately, the incident caused hours-long delays for evening traffic.
DASH FOR THE EXIT
It’s always a bit of a pain to miss an exit.
But sometimes it’s just better to suck it up and take the long way back.
That was a lesson the driver of a Holden Barina learnt the hard way in November, when it appeared a last minute decision to shoot across to the Mudgeeraba
Rd exit from an inside lane saw them coming to grief.
The car slammed into the side of a silver car, ironically pushing that vehicle straight onto the exit ramp.
A video of the incident was later shared by Dash Cam Owners Australia.
BEHIND YOU!
In contrast, being too slow to move over was the real problem in this incident, which took place in July.
A tradie took so long to spot an ambulance trying to get past him on the M1, lights and sirens blaring, another driver decided to intervene.
Pulling up beside his vehicle, they are heard to shout “Get the f**k outta the way – get outta the way, f***ing hell.”
The tradie’s vehicle then finally gives way.
SLOW MOTION STANDOFF
Most people being pursued by police tend to take off at high speed. In February, however, that was definitely not the case.
A pursuit which began in south Brisbane and ran the length of the M1 on the Gold
Coast and on into Tweed was branded the world’s slowest police chase by some onlookers.
Footage streamed by two young men during the chase showed one riding shirtless, wearing a pearl necklace on top of the car as he antagonised officers following in about a dozen police vehicles during the slow motion pursuit.
“Gang s--t, you know who’s putting it on the map,” the driver can be heard saying as he brazenly filmed himself driving the allegedly stolen Mercedes.
The three occupants finally arrested after road spikes were deployed at the Cudgen Road Tunnel.
GOING THE WRONG WAY
Finally, probably the most alarming M1 footage was captured at Nerang in February.
In images shared on Reddit, a car is seen travelling on the wrong side of the road in heavy traffic at Nerang.
The person who took the photos reported that the driver was travelling at speed.
They reported the incident to police.