12:00a.m. 5th October 2008

An alleged drink driver rolled his car multiple times south bound on the Bruce Highway just after the East-West Motorway onramp to the Bruce Highway. Photo: Cade Mooney/178687b

An alleged drink-driver who rolled his car caused a massive traffic jam on the Bruce Highway yesterday morning.

About 9.10am, the man, travelling southbound about 200 metres south of the Sippy Downs interchange, appeared to lose control of his Hyundai sedan which left the bitumen and crashed on the median strip.

Police senior constable Graham Atkinson was one of the police officers who attended the accident scene.

He said witnesses had told him the car had rolled several times before coming to rest in the highway’s median strip.

The Hyundai was all but destroyed in the accident after rolling, with whole doors and panels having come off.

“He’s lucky to be alive – and so are the rest of us,” Mr Atkinson said.

A Queensland ambulance spokeswoman said the man was taken to Nambour Hospital with what was believed to be spinal injuries.

“They used the spinal boards when removing him from the vehicle,” she said.

All emergency services attended the scene, which proved difficult for some as the highway and interchanges in both directions slowed to a virtual stop.

Due to the ambulance’s single crew a firefighter drove it to the hospital while the paramedic attended the patient in the rear.

Police said it would take a considerable time before the road could be fully open again, and confirmed the man was suspected of drink driving.

Traffic was banked up in southbound lanes and the East-West Motorway exit for more than two kilometres while the scene was cleared.