This morning, Sydney's road network was again brought to a standstill by a person who allegedly stole a car and tried to evade capture by heading over the Sydney Harbour Bridge at speed on the wrong side of the road. The result was more or less expected - a head on crash with opposing traffic.

The alleged tea leaf is reportedly under police guard at Royal North Shore Hospital.

In-car camera footage here at the News Ltd site: https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/on-the-road/car-in-flames-after-harbour-bridge-crash/news-story...

The NSW Opposition is asking for a traffic island to be installed to better separate traffic - hardly possible given the already narrow lanes and the fact that the lanes are tidal and change direction according to the volume of traffic. Even installing a zipper, similar to what is installed on Victoria Road would not be possible as the surface isn't wide enough. It would also add needless weight to the deck of the Bridge.

The Bridge turns 90 years old on the 19th March - a testament to the quality of construction and the ultimate size of the world-famous landmark. In that time there have been plenty of ups and a few downs too, such as today's incident.

A moron who should never have been born.

I hope that idiot gets a long prison sentence - but he'll probably get a slap on the wrist instead.

Can't watch that unless I succumb to, or are forced to watch their adds for something I neither want, nor can use and can probably only be got in a capital city.

What ads? No ads here. Maybe you need an ad blocker.

The same sort of thing happens in the bush too. I know, I've lived in the sticks and the concrete jungle. The only difference is what the perpetrator runs into.

It's not the first such crash on the coat hanger. I recall one in 2020 where a middle aged woman with a serious criminal history (and laughably referred to as 'an angel'), came barreling off the Cahill Expressway into the wrong lane and killed herself in a head-on.

Meanwhile the great majority of people manage to understand the system and have done so for decades.

That said, during the day I tend to avoid the middle lane unless I need to use it.

It’s called the suicide lane on the Hobart Tasman bridge. JJ

Meanwhile the great majority of people manage to understand the system and have done so for decades.

This reminded me of something. I remember back to how the tidal lanes were managed back in the days before moving medians and the lane open indicators. A service truck would move along each hour shifting the old rubber flaps across a lane to increase peak capacity. This would happen five or six times a day back before the Harbour Tunnel opened so that there'd be 6 lanes in and 2 out in the morning and 5 out and 3 in for the afternoon peak. It was a laborious and time-consuming exercise, not to mention risky as the speed limit was 80 back in those days.

Then in came the electronic system that is still there today. When roadworks are done on the bridge it is generally done at night and they do close off a lane in the middle to provide a buffer zone and they lower the speed limit to 50 or 40 depending on what's being done. It is amazing that there are people that don't know what the RED X means. It surely can't be that hard and it is often a Range Rover driver that is the offender. They seem to be a special breed. I've seen the same in Sydney's tunnels, as the same system is employed to advice drivers in advance when a lane is obstructed. Again, there are people who remain in closed lanes either blissfully ignoring the RED X or being too ignorant to understand the meaning of it.

With regard to GTC's comment - it's quite true. Somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 cars per day use the Bridge and the Warringah Freeway without incident or even a near miss. Once WestConnex and the future Western Harbour Tunnel are complete it will provide some relief for when things get out of hand on the Bridge. All this is a few years away yet though.

There is an add blocker, that's what they were P'd off with.

And true to form, the 19 year old who stole the Kluger and smashed into other vehicles (while apparently high on drugs?) is described as "a beautiful, brilliant boy who will change the world." "He's a very good kid."

As well as this: "The police have one job - keep my son safe, that's their job and they didn't do it,' [his father] blasted [from QLD].

Well this would-be world changer has certainly changed the life of his victims: "A tradesman who was innocently caught up in the carnage of last week’s horrific Sydney Harbour Bridge crash has undergone multiple surgeries for potentially lifelong injuries."

If the culprit's father said that then he is wrong. It is the job of the police to arrest villains, not make their breakfast every morning.

If that was my son I would take him to the police station and have him charged which is some unfortunately I have had to do in the past.