A young police officer is facing a tough recovery in hospital after being pulled from underneath a 10-tonne truck on Sydney's northern beaches.
The woman, in her 20s, was driving to work in the city with another police officer on Tuesday morning when the truck ploughed into her car.
The SDV logistics truck carrying flour, spices and other food lost control as it came down a steep hill towards Pittwater Rd at Dee Why.
Motorists watched in horror as it flipped and slid into eight cars waiting at traffic lights, flattening the car carrying the two Sydney officers.
"The paramedics were able to make voice contact initially only," Ambulance NSW Inspector Damian Hughes said.
"We couldn't even see the victims inside the vehicles until we were able to prise a door open underneath the truck."
Insp Hughes said the woman had serious arm injuries but was able to communicate with rescuers.
She was trapped for more than an hour before she was airlifted to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where she remains in a serious but stable condition.
Her colleague, thought to be 29, suffered less serious injuries.
"He is doing OK," a fellow officer said.
Six people were injured after the peak-hour crash, with four discharged from hospital by Tuesday afternoon.
The truck driver, 39-year-old Sam, walked out of hospital in a hospital gown sporting a neck brace, a broken arm and grazes down his face.
Asked what happened before the crash, the exhausted-looking driver said he tried to stop the truck.
"It wouldn't stop," he said before his friend helped him into a waiting car.
The fact no-one died surprised police.
"In my 30 years of service I have never felt so lucky as today," Superintendent Dave Darcy said.
The motorists who escaped the truck's path felt the same.
Labourer Dylan Fisher was waiting at the red light when he saw the truck flip and take out the cars in front of him.
"He was going way too fast..." he said.
"As soon as he took the corner it just flipped over and he took out all the cars."
The truck was turning off Warringah Rd, which is a steep hill with a 20km/h speed limit for trucks.
James Cox was on his way to work at a nearby business when the truck took out half of his ute.
"He said he was changing the radio station and looked up and saw a truck coming down the road, airborne," his colleague Kurt Duryea told AAP.
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