Brisbane Highway Crash, Wrong Way Driver Causes Pileup, One Fatality, Three Hospitalized

Brisbane, Australia— A wrong-way vehicle entered the northbound lanes of the M1 Pacific Motorway near Beenleigh at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday and plowed into three oncoming cars, killing one driver and injuring three others in a fiery multi-car crash.

Queensland Police said the wrong-way driver, a 34-year-old man in a white ute, entered via an off-ramp at Exit 34 and drove south in the northbound lanes for almost two kilometers. Multiple 000 calls warned of the vehicle, but the collision happened before patrols could intercept.

The ute struck a sedan head-on, then ricocheted into two other cars. The sedan driver, a 52-year-old woman commuting to Brisbane, died trapped in her vehicle. Three others were taken to Princess Alexandra and Logan hospitals with fractures and burns. The wrong-way driver also died at the scene.

"I saw headlights in my lane, thought I was seeing wrong. Then cars swerved, then a massive bang," said a truck driver who was behind the sedan and stopped to pull a survivor from a burning car.

Fire crews extinguished vehicle fires and cut open two cars to free trapped occupants. The motorway was closed northbound for five hours. Traffic was diverted via the service road, creating a 10-kilometer queue into the morning peak.

Police are investigating whether alcohol, drugs, or a medical episode caused the wrong-way entry. The ute’s dashcam was melted in the fire, but highway gantry cameras captured the entry and should provide a timeline.

"Wrong-way entries are rare but often fatal. We are checking signage, lighting, and whether the driver was disoriented," Inspector Darren Mitchell of Queensland Highway Patrol said at a roadside briefing.

The M1 is Queensland’s busiest intercity motorway. Transport and Main Roads installed wrong-way detection sensors on several ramps last year, but not at this exit. The department said it would review sensor rollout.

The Forensic Crash Unit mapped the scene with drones and collected debris for mechanical inspection. Toxicology results for the wrong-way driver are pending.

The road reopened at 11:30 a.m. after resurfacing of a 30-meter section damaged by fire. Police appealed for dashcam footage from drivers who saw the ute before the crash.