THE efforts of motorists who stopped to help a motorcycle rider involved in a horror crash at Cudgera Creek on the M1 yesterday were tragically not enough to save his life.

The 61-year-old man died after the motorcycle he was riding and a white station wagon collided near the Cudgera Creek on-ramp about 8.30am.

Inspector Greg Jago said other motorists immediately stopped and called triple 0.

Emergency services personnel and the rescue chopper arrived soon after but the man died at the scene.

The female driver of the station wagon appeared uninjured but was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital for observation and mandatory testing. The crash closed the motorway northbound, with traffic brought to a standstill.

The closure also sparked chaos on roads in nearby Pottsville and Cabarita and on Tweed Coast Rd as motorists searched for alternative routes.

Insp Jago said it was too early to speculate as to the cause of the incident.

"The investigating officers will determine the cause of the collision and will then be preparing a report for the coroner for the investigation later on,” he said.

The crash follows a horror period on NSW roads, in which 16 people died in 18 days during Christmas and new year.

The incident occurred near to where a woman lost her life in a two-vehicle crash at Chinderah in August.

The man is the second motorbike rider to die on Tweed roads in less than three months.

Dann Jenkins died in October when his motorbike collided with a ute, west of Murwillumbah.