Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

fat and old
Posts: 6179
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2014 12:06 pm
Location: Mill Park

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby fat and old » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:50 pm

human909 wrote:
fat and old wrote:Please provide evidence of an accidental shooting "on the street". Maybe it does happen. Police excluded.
Evidence?

You seem to be missing the point. If I accidentally shoot somebody, then I better have a damn good explanation for the police on why it was an accident and it was not reckless. I'll struggle to get away without charges if my excuse was "I didn't see him" or "I thought I gave him enough space".

In contrast such excuse routinely are acceptable. Sorry Mr Plod, I did look but didn't notice that cyclists there, I'm sorry he died. Minor traffic infringements or no punishment at all is common.
I’m well aware that the cyclist scenario is way to common and unacceptable. But that isn’t the point. You made a statement in support of your position. I was asking for facts to back that statement or in lieu a retraction or explanation that it was an hypothetical possibility. You’ve done that, thanks.

User avatar
Alex Simmons/RST
Expert
Posts: 4997
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 3:51 pm
Contact:

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:27 am

queequeg wrote:I am at a loss to understand how it is that a cyclist is still in hospital almost 3 months after the collision, with life threatening and permanent injuries, and police have not sought to even interview him, nor has anyone been charged. The question is, why not? What is the delay?
Having spent a long time in hospital after serious incident, I was in no condition to be interviewed by anyone let alone police. I was in la la land for much of it.

My incident didn't involve anyone else directly (but was due to Council negligence). Nevertheless the Police were still involved. The attending officers came to my home a little while after I got out of hospital (bit over 4 months) to follow up and to tell me they had decided not to charge me! I was kinda gobsmacked. My case took 8 years, ending (successfully for me) in the NSW Court of Appeal.

User avatar
queequeg
Posts: 6477
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:09 am

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby queequeg » Wed Aug 01, 2018 12:49 pm

ColinOldnCranky wrote:
queequeg wrote:
I am at a loss to understand how it is that a cyclist is still in hospital almost 3 months after the collision, with life threatening and permanent injuries, and police have not sought to even interview him, nor has anyone been charged. The question is, why not? What is the delay?
For me you can add to your thoughts how it is that an accident that is apparently serious enough to require such a long stay in hospital is pretty well not reported on at the time or on progress of the victim.
So, just to point out the different treatments of incidents. Last night a truck driver rear ended some cars on the M1, killing two people and injuring others. Police have said the cause of the accident is not known at this stage, but less than 24 hours later the driver of the truck has been with charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and one count of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. He was also charged with negligent driving occasioning death and negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, he's had his licence suspended and in due in court in less than 3 weeks.

Call me cynical, but if the CIU can move that quickly, what is the hold up with the Akuna Bay incident?
Man charged after double fatality crash at Mooney Mooney

Wednesday, 01 August 2018 05:26:36 AM

A man will face court later this month after two people died in a crash north of Sydney yesterday afternoon.

About 4.50pm (Tuesday 31 July 2018), emergency services responded to reports of a crash involving a truck and five cars, northbound on the M1, just north of the Mooney Mooney bridge.

On arrival, officers found a truck had crashed into the back of one of the cars and caught fire.

Two men, believed to be aged 19 and 52, who were travelling in a Ford utility died in the crash. They are yet to be formally identified.

A 75-year-old woman, who was driving a Kia Rio sedan, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital for further treatment.

The remaining drivers and passengers were taken to Gosford Hospital for further treatment.

They were: two women, aged 36 and 34, travelling in a Hyundai i30; a 44-year-old woman driving a Hyundai Tuscon and a 62-year-old woman driving a Mazda 3.

A 30-year-old male truck driver was charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and one count of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. He was also charged with negligent driving occasioning death and negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

His licence was suspended and he was granted conditional bail to appear in Gosford Local Court on 21 August 2018.
'11 Lynskey Cooper CX, '00 Hillbrick Steel Racing (Total Rebuild '10), '16 Cervelo R5, '18 Mason BokekTi

User avatar
Apple
Posts: 3513
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 4:00 pm
Location: sydney

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby Apple » Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:37 pm

mikesbytes wrote: Did you get a response?
NO I Did NOT
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
Speak your mind,Those that mind dont matter, Those that matter dont mind!!

User avatar
queequeg
Posts: 6477
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:09 am

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby queequeg » Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:26 pm

The female driver has now (finally) been charged.

https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/news ... w9MQ%3D%3D
'11 Lynskey Cooper CX, '00 Hillbrick Steel Racing (Total Rebuild '10), '16 Cervelo R5, '18 Mason BokekTi

User avatar
g-boaf
Posts: 21221
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:11 pm

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby g-boaf » Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:31 pm

queequeg wrote:The female driver has now (finally) been charged.

https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/news ... w9MQ%3D%3D
And still a wall of secrecy. Surely for other offences, the perpetrator would have been named by now.

User avatar
biker jk
Posts: 6998
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:18 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby biker jk » Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:01 pm

Good news finally. The Daily Telegraph has the story but it's behind a paywall, although there's a photo of the female journalist available for public access.

User avatar
biker jk
Posts: 6998
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:18 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby biker jk » Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:56 pm

It appears that using the Akuna Bay loop/West Head as a race track is common practice for motoring journalists testing McLaren's. I've attached a link from 2016. Note the photos on West Head Rd and Akuna Bay and the following comments,

Sadly, Sydney’s roads are notoriously bad for driving at speeds above 50km/h. With a little clever pre-planning from McLaren’s team driver Luke O’Neill though, we found some of the best secluded roads available to this man and his three machines.

After forty-five minutes of constant cornering bliss and cranky cyclists in spandex, I tried my hand at the baby of the McLaren bunch, the 540C.


https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/06/the- ... s-vs-540c/

User avatar
outnabike
Posts: 2455
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:53 pm
Location: Melbourne Vic

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby outnabike » Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:13 pm

Yep we get a bit cranky when some one pick a regular cyclist route to test drive unfamiliar cars, and then runs over a cyclist.
I bet he had on those fancy little driving gloves.... :x
Vivente World Randonneur complete with panniers

User avatar
g-boaf
Posts: 21221
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:11 pm

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby g-boaf » Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:28 pm

outnabike wrote:Yep we get a bit cranky when some one pick a regular cyclist route to test drive unfamiliar cars, and then runs over a cyclist.
I bet he had on those fancy little driving gloves.... :x
How dare we get in the way of some snotty entitled journo test driving a car. Of course he'd be driving it like a saint, slowly, right... grrr.

User avatar
queequeg
Posts: 6477
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:09 am

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby queequeg » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:13 am

biker jk wrote:Good news finally. The Daily Telegraph has the story but it's behind a paywall, although there's a photo of the female journalist available for public access.
The story names her as Amelia Hungerford
'11 Lynskey Cooper CX, '00 Hillbrick Steel Racing (Total Rebuild '10), '16 Cervelo R5, '18 Mason BokekTi

User avatar
biker jk
Posts: 6998
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:18 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby biker jk » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:36 am

Thanks. I managed to find the story which wasn't behind a paywall.

https://m.gladstoneobserver.com.au/news ... t/3518979/

I read a comment on twitter suggesting the driver was in the first wave of novice drivers and McLaren didn't bother to stop the event after the crash.

User avatar
familyguy
Posts: 8354
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:30 pm
Location: Willoughby, NSW

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby familyguy » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:38 am

EDIT: Snap.

Get the story here instead: https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/jo ... t/3518979/

28 year old "lifestyle" journalist let loose in a 500+BHP vehicle? What could possibly go wrong. Her past driving blogs appear to all be track based or closed-course. Lack of talent/situational awareness and target fixation coming to the fore here?

Mclaren have been VERY silent.

CKinnard
Posts: 3459
Joined: Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:23 am

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby CKinnard » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:47 am

queequeg wrote:
biker jk wrote:Good news finally. The Daily Telegraph has the story but it's behind a paywall, although there's a photo of the female journalist available for public access.
The story names her as Amelia Hungerford
I'd like to know why it took 5 months before she was charged.

User avatar
familyguy
Posts: 8354
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:30 pm
Location: Willoughby, NSW

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby familyguy » Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:49 am

I read somewhere that police were awaiting medical confirmation of true extent of riders injuries to avoid 'under-charging' the driver as a possibility. I don't know the validity of such a claim, though.

User avatar
queequeg
Posts: 6477
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:09 am

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby queequeg » Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:23 am

familyguy wrote:EDIT: Snap.

Get the story here instead: https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/jo ... t/3518979/

28 year old "lifestyle" journalist let loose in a 500+BHP vehicle? What could possibly go wrong. Her past driving blogs appear to all be track based or closed-course. Lack of talent/situational awareness and target fixation coming to the fore here?

Mclaren have been VERY silent.
Perhaps McLaren are silent because they have been using West Head/Akuna Bay as a race track. Put an inexperienced driver in a race car on a public road that is well known for it's high number of cyclists, add gasoline and light a match. Then there is a dubious decision to still proceed with a second wave of drivers that afternoon.

I know we're complaining about this case taking 5 months to get a driver charged. We're still waiting to find out what happened with Mike Hall back in early 2017, and that is only just coming up to court in 2 weeks time so that we can find out the facts.
'11 Lynskey Cooper CX, '00 Hillbrick Steel Racing (Total Rebuild '10), '16 Cervelo R5, '18 Mason BokekTi

39x25
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:07 pm

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby 39x25 » Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:28 am

https://www.news.com.au/technology/inno ... 98a2591ee6

About F...ing time.

Now watch her get off on a good behaviour bond.

User avatar
g-boaf
Posts: 21221
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:11 pm

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby g-boaf » Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:41 am

queequeg wrote:
familyguy wrote:EDIT: Snap.

Get the story here instead: https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/jo ... t/3518979/

28 year old "lifestyle" journalist let loose in a 500+BHP vehicle? What could possibly go wrong. Her past driving blogs appear to all be track based or closed-course. Lack of talent/situational awareness and target fixation coming to the fore here?

Mclaren have been VERY silent.
Perhaps McLaren are silent because they have been using West Head/Akuna Bay as a race track. Put an inexperienced driver in a race car on a public road that is well known for it's high number of cyclists, add gasoline and light a match. Then there is a dubious decision to still proceed with a second wave of drivers that afternoon.

I know we're complaining about this case taking 5 months to get a driver charged. We're still waiting to find out what happened with Mike Hall back in early 2017, and that is only just coming up to court in 2 weeks time so that we can find out the facts.
Exactly. And these are not just some little toy sports cars. A McLaren is a rocket, these things accelerate very fast and they are capable of massive cornering speeds. If someone is going for it in one of these cars, they can reach highly illegal speeds very easily.

If it turns out that the local McLaren PR people have been using this area as their unofficial race track, then they need to be taken to task for it as well. If they want people to drive fast in their cars, send those people out to Eastern Creek where there is a perfectly good race track to use.

Otherwise, have pace cars at the front and back of official journalist/test drive convoys and make sure everyone drives at the same speed and doesn't get the opportunity to do anything illegal. Other car makers do this, eg, AMG-Mercedes, Lamborghini. When I last suggested that, I was told by a forum member here that this never happens. Despite the fact it does.

User avatar
uart
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:15 pm
Location: Newcastle

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby uart » Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:26 pm

CKinnard wrote: I'd like to know why it took 5 months before she was charged.
Yes, and I'm also surprised at how long it took to make any details public. I'm thinking maybe a combination of money and media influence by someone in the organization for which she worked.

User avatar
mikesbytes
Super Mod
Super Mod
Posts: 22143
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:42 pm
Location: Tempe, Sydney
Contact:

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby mikesbytes » Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:50 pm

biker jk wrote:It appears that using the Akuna Bay loop/West Head as a race track is common practice for motoring journalists testing McLaren's. I've attached a link from 2016. Note the photos on West Head Rd and Akuna Bay and the following comments,

Sadly, Sydney’s roads are notoriously bad for driving at speeds above 50km/h. With a little clever pre-planning from McLaren’s team driver Luke O’Neill though, we found some of the best secluded roads available to this man and his three machines.

After forty-five minutes of constant cornering bliss and cranky cyclists in spandex, I tried my hand at the baby of the McLaren bunch, the 540C.


https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/06/the- ... s-vs-540c/
So its OK to endanger other road users if your been given a fancy sports car to test drive

If anyone wants to comment, the original article is here: https://www.dmarge.com/2016/06/mclaren- ... -540c.html
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

Arbuckle23
Posts: 1132
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 7:07 pm
Location: Mornington Peninsula

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby Arbuckle23 » Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:31 pm

mikesbytes wrote: If anyone wants to comment, the original article is here: https://www.dmarge.com/2016/06/mclaren- ... -540c.html
That article is dated June 2016?

User avatar
find_bruce
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 10559
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 8:42 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby find_bruce » Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:11 pm

Arbuckle23 wrote:
mikesbytes wrote: If anyone wants to comment, the original article is here: https://www.dmarge.com/2016/06/mclaren- ... -540c.html
That article is dated June 2016?
Yep & as the included quote from bikerjk shows he was quoting a 2016 article in support of his comment that it's common practice for motoring journalists testing McLaren's to use the Akuna Bay loop/West Head as a race track.

If you are looking for the articles about Amelia Hungerford from magazine Signature Luxury Travel and Style hitting a cyclist whilst driving a McLaren, some of them are The articles posted by Amelia Hungerford on the Signature Luxury Travel and Style website suggests that the description "motoring journalist" is a bit far fetched & the articles now refer to her as a "lifestyle journalist"

Given that she has apparently set her instagram account to private, I wonder how long her email address will be showing

User avatar
Thoglette
Posts: 6599
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:01 pm

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby Thoglette » Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:39 pm

find_bruce wrote: The articles posted by Amelia Hungerford on the Signature Luxury Travel and Style website suggests that the description "motoring journalist" is a bit far fetched & the articles now refer to her as a "lifestyle journalist"
<aside>
I wonder if one actually gets to go to all those events. Bloody nice lifestyle if one does.
However, my money is that the role involves "personalising" the official press kits (or similar), for at least for 90% of them.
Even still, for the remaining 10%....
</aside>
Stop handing them the stick! - Dave Moulton
"People are worthy of respect, ideas are not." Peter Ellerton, UQ

hunch
Posts: 360
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:06 am

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby hunch » Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:26 pm

Sadly, Sydney’s roads are notoriously bad for driving at speeds above 50km/h. With a little clever pre-planning from McLaren’s team driver Luke O’Neill though, we found some of the best secluded roads available to this man and his three machines.
That pre-planning tosh, talk about gilding the lily! The roads there have been used for car promo work before BMC were at Zetland, Holden at Pagewood and Ford at Homebush.....lucky to make 70hp on most of those though....and no social influencers tossed the keys back then either.

SMSP isn't cheap to hire for the day exclusively, but if they're going to have braindeads pedalling their cars, there's other options that cost only a few hundred per driver and doesn't expose the rest of the population to possible incompetence. You'd wish there was some penalty for the importer. :evil:

User avatar
mikesbytes
Super Mod
Super Mod
Posts: 22143
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:42 pm
Location: Tempe, Sydney
Contact:

Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW

Postby mikesbytes » Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:40 pm

The article has a lot of information about the car but no information about the current status of the cyclist
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Anrai, michmueller