Queue of cars forms on Melbourne’s M1 exit at Caroline Springs without realising cause of delay 

The embarrassing reason why hundreds of vehicles patiently queued along an Australian highway has been revealed.

A clip of a huge line of cars, cars, vans and lorries forming after dark along Melbourne’s M1 was uploaded to social media on Wednesday.

It appeared with the title ‘That’s a long line to exit at Caroline Springs’ and went viral redditwith 1,500 views per day.

The smart video was sped up to show what was at the front of the line – a white car broke down and was pulled over with the hazard lights on and the hood up.

So all the motorists behind it had stopped for no reason and lined up and just postponed their journey.

The smart video was sped up to show what was at the front of the queue – a white car broke down and was pulled over with the hazard lights on and the bonnet up

The reveal immediately raised questions about how the epic queue started.

Vehicles had clearly stopped behind the white car, initially thinking it was going to leave the M1.

But how it got to the point where hundreds of people were postponed was not easy to answer.

‘What the duck are the first 5 cars doing, surely they could see what was going on and not stand in line?’ one person wrote.

So in true Reddit fashion, humor filled the void where an explanation was missing.

“Car behind probably pulls over to check on them…Next car is family coming to pick them up…Next car is right there mate heard it and wanted to check in, fourth car don’t pay attention, fifth car can’t see what’s in Caroline Springs is going on,” one person wrote.

“Herd mentality is funny,” another commented.

Another joked that it was an example of how caring Melburnians are.

“So many people show up for someone who got bumped into their hood. Melbourne full of love and support.’

One person explained why the queue kept standing even though they couldn’t answer how it started.

“Once they stop on the track, it’s quite difficult to merge at high speed on a busy highway,” they said.

Somehow hundreds of trucks, cars, vans and utes got stuck behind the broken car

“I’m more curious how the traffic jam came about in the first place, while in the first instance only one car with a breakdown would have been on the hard shoulder.”

Others said this was a common occurrence on emergency lanes close to freeway exits.

“Everyone does the same on the Princes Freeway before the Werribee exit. Same deal with Kororoit Creek Rd,’ one person said.

‘Often one of them enters the hard shoulder with an approaching exit lane. Think Yarra Boulevard, for example,’ said another.