Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
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Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby Nate » Mon May 14, 2018 4:29 pm
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/news_ ... w9MQ%3D%3D
28yo female motoring journalist in a McLaren hits a cyclist.
Akuna/West Head is probably the busiest road for cyclists in Australia... no facts at all, but anyone that's been there knows you cant go more than 500m without another bunch of cyclists on Saturday or Sunday.
Its a dead end, national park, no through traffic - which is why cyclists go there, normally full of tourists & sight seeing people. Mostly 60km/h with west head 80km/h.
Happened on a Wednesday - so there may have been fewer cyclists around.
I feel this one is going to kick off...
28yo female, motoring journalist... quite the recipe for a story.
Probably a solid chance it wont due to the incompetence of the police & their "investigation".
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby AdelaidePeter » Mon May 14, 2018 4:39 pm
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby Jmuzz » Mon May 14, 2018 4:49 pm
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby g-boaf » Mon May 14, 2018 5:20 pm
Which publication? I've got one in mind but I'll wait and see.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby biker jk » Mon May 14, 2018 5:23 pm
It was last Wednesday, so not many riders about. I did the Akuna Bay loop that day but was done around 10am, so didn't know about the cyclist being hit. It's a popular route for the motoring journalists, as I often have seen expensive sports cars parked at Terrey Hills with photos being taken. I don't know what happened but excessive speed perhaps on a blind bend may have been involved. No excuses though.Nate wrote:I cant find it elsewhere in the forum - surely its somewhere?
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/news_ ... w9MQ%3D%3D
28yo female motoring journalist in a McLaren hits a cyclist.
Akuna/West Head is probably the busiest road for cyclists in Australia... no facts at all, but anyone that's been there knows you cant go more than 500m without another bunch of cyclists on Saturday or Sunday.
Its a dead end, national park, no through traffic - which is why cyclists go there, normally full of tourists & sight seeing people. Mostly 60km/h with west head 80km/h.
I feel this one is going to kick off...
28yo female, motoring journalist... quite the recipe for a story.
Also - she HAD to have passed at least 50 other cyclists on that road, so she knew they were there - it was a known & clear risk, yet she didnt drive accordingly.
If it goes near court - i'd say she's stuffed.
Probably a solid chance it wont due to the incompetence of the police & their "investigation".
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby Nate » Mon May 14, 2018 5:43 pm
Ahh didnt see the date - it all came though on social media on Sunday morning AU timebiker jk wrote: It was last Wednesday, so not many riders about. I did the Akuna Bay loop that day but was done around 10am, so didn't know about the cyclist being hit. It's a popular route for the motoring journalists, as I often have seen expensive sports cars parked at Terrey Hills with photos being taken. I don't know what happened but excessive speed perhaps on a blind bend may have been involved. No excuses though.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby human909 » Mon May 14, 2018 6:18 pm
Its only blind if you are going too fast for the visibility and your ability to react accordingly.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby AUbicycles » Tue May 15, 2018 3:54 pm
At the Thai it became a popular meeting point for car enthusiasts and unfortunately that draws in the racers though they typically stick to McCarrs.
The route to and from Westhead has a suitable speed limit (if it is respected) and it is very easy as a driver to drive safely along this road.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby queequeg » Tue May 15, 2018 6:43 pm
He was hit from behind by the Mclaren, though it is hard to understand how the rider could not be seen. However, put someone in a high powered sports car on a public road and let them loose, and this is what happens. Let's just hope the investigation is thorough and the driver is appropriately punished.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby Nate » Tue May 15, 2018 8:35 pm
Posted speed is the MAXIMUM safe speed in good conditions.AUbicycles wrote: The route to and from Westhead has a suitable speed limit (if it is respected) and it is very easy as a driver to drive safely along this road.
Its interesting reading case law from accidents & there's a few running themes:
- vehicle operators have a duty of care
- must take into account reasonable risks
Doing 80km/h around a blind corner or over a crest in West Head is not exercising a duty of care IMHO.
ESPECIALLY if the driver has driven there before, they would've passed cyclists previously & KNOWN that she should be expecting more cyclists in the area, thus adjust maximum speed.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby g-boaf » Tue May 15, 2018 9:05 pm
I'm thinking only Autogefühl from Germany may be the exception. They are always super careful on road tests, especially around bike riders.
I hope for the sake of the poor rider that the offender receives a very severe penalty.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby AUbicycles » Wed May 16, 2018 3:31 am
The thing about sports cars is that as nice a they may be - the only place that you can really drive them is on a race track... and that is the best place because it is safer for the driver, safer for others and the only place to let the car do what it was built for. I don't however know the exact circumstances and whether speeding or any driver behaviour or negligence contributed towards the collision.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby hunch » Wed May 16, 2018 7:44 am
Wouldn't be surprised it's a blog rather than a mag. Age of the supposed journalist makes me suspect it's somebody's car rather than provided by the local distributor - can't see them providing one to someone that age. Can only think of a few "name" female motoring journos and they're older than that.g-boaf wrote:Which publication? I've got one in mind but I'll wait and see.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby mikesbytes » Wed May 16, 2018 5:20 pm
Blind corner is a term used to avoid saying not driving the conditions.
Is Blind corner a known attribute of this collision or simply speculation?
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby queequeg » Wed May 16, 2018 9:41 pm
Well, I can tell you that CarAdvice had this post up on their Facebook page on May 9th, the day it happened:-hunch wrote:Reported last Saturday in the local rag.
Wouldn't be surprised it's a blog rather than a mag. Age of the supposed journalist makes me suspect it's somebody's car rather than provided by the local distributor - can't see them providing one to someone that age. Can only think of a few "name" female motoring journos and they're older than that.g-boaf wrote:Which publication? I've got one in mind but I'll wait and see.
https://www.facebook.com/CarAdvice/post ... 1479046505
They had three McLarens out and about, with photos taken at Pie in the Sky. Coincidence?
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby g-boaf » Wed May 16, 2018 9:58 pm
They were who I was suspecting, but the only person on their staff fitting the bill is quite a bit older I think.queequeg wrote:Well, I can tell you that CarAdvice had this post up on their Facebook page on May 9th, the day it happened:-hunch wrote:Reported last Saturday in the local rag.
Wouldn't be surprised it's a blog rather than a mag. Age of the supposed journalist makes me suspect it's somebody's car rather than provided by the local distributor - can't see them providing one to someone that age. Can only think of a few "name" female motoring journos and they're older than that.g-boaf wrote:Which publication? I've got one in mind but I'll wait and see.
https://www.facebook.com/CarAdvice/post ... 1479046505
They had three McLarens out and about, with photos taken at Pie in the Sky. Coincidence?
I think it was a local McLaren drive day for the media. I'm going to guess on it being a blog rather than one of the bigger publications. Could be wrong though. There is an awful amount of silence on the whole thing.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby hunch » Thu May 17, 2018 6:55 am
Yeah, not really the glossy mag area if it is them. One female on staff strikes me as older. I see they do a show on 2GB....and if not mistaken, vaguely recall they have the fish wrapper Terror articles too...all the devils in a nice row.queequeg wrote:Well, I can tell you that CarAdvice had this post up on their Facebook page on May 9th, the day it happened:-hunch wrote:Reported last Saturday in the local rag.
Wouldn't be surprised it's a blog rather than a mag. Age of the supposed journalist makes me suspect it's somebody's car rather than provided by the local distributor - can't see them providing one to someone that age. Can only think of a few "name" female motoring journos and they're older than that.g-boaf wrote:Which publication? I've got one in mind but I'll wait and see.
https://www.facebook.com/CarAdvice/post ... 1479046505
They had three McLarens out and about, with photos taken at Pie in the Sky. Coincidence?
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby mikesbytes » Thu May 17, 2018 8:40 am
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby g-boaf » Thu May 17, 2018 9:36 am
As far as I can see, no review of the car on the website either so far... hmm.mikesbytes wrote:Have they posted anything on the collision? Perhaps expressing their regrets and concern over the wellbeing of the cyclist?
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby Desmo » Thu May 17, 2018 2:39 pm
here's @mikedoeslife tweets to me in response to my accusations they were involved.
"Ahoy, I'll tweet this openly rather than just as a reply: although one of our journalists attended a drive that day, that terrible incident did not involve any CarAdvice staff or contributors. It was actually an entirely separate drive to the one we were on. - @mikedoeslife"
"There was two separate 'waves' to the event, the incident occurred on the first and we were on the second. Also, our only female journo (unfortunately) is Mandy, and she wasn't there. - @mikedoeslife"
"to add to that, I'm a keen -- if not super regular -- cyclist myself, for both commuting and health. If we had been involved, I would be devastated and certainly would not do well at keeping it a secret"
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby queequeg » Thu May 17, 2018 4:49 pm
Excellent, which means it was just a coincidence...but as others noted, it seems to have been a media day, so that explains the multiple groups, and we're still none the wiser as to what actually happened.Desmo wrote:Car Advise have said via Twitter they weren't involved. They were testing but it wasn't their 'group'
here's @mikedoeslife tweets to me in response to my accusations they were involved.
"Ahoy, I'll tweet this openly rather than just as a reply: although one of our journalists attended a drive that day, that terrible incident did not involve any CarAdvice staff or contributors. It was actually an entirely separate drive to the one we were on. - @mikedoeslife"
"There was two separate 'waves' to the event, the incident occurred on the first and we were on the second. Also, our only female journo (unfortunately) is Mandy, and she wasn't there. - @mikedoeslife"
"to add to that, I'm a keen -- if not super regular -- cyclist myself, for both commuting and health. If we had been involved, I would be devastated and certainly would not do well at keeping it a secret"
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby AUbicycles » Thu May 17, 2018 5:41 pm
It is likely the event organiser knows more and because of the brand association they want to keep it out of the public sphere.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby Nate » Thu May 17, 2018 8:38 pm
FYI - posted on the Syd McLaren FB page
https://www.facebook.com/mclarensydney/
doubt it'll be approved to go public.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby g-boaf » Thu May 17, 2018 9:52 pm
It did go live on there. Perhaps McLaren now needs to do what some other manufacturers do and have all the journos follow one of the official cars around, all cars have radios in them and journos must keep up with the official car, not allowed to go too fast, nor too slowly. This prevents any journos from doing anything too naughty. If anyone slows down too much the leader gives them a telling off over the radio.Nate wrote:Has anyone tweeted or posted to the McLaren HQ page in home base?
FYI - posted on the Syd McLaren FB page
https://www.facebook.com/mclarensydney/
doubt it'll be approved to go public.
Something like a McLaren these days is a rocket. Even a 540C is blindingly fast. A 720S, or heaven forbid, the McLaren Senna is in another world of speed again. It's just not good unleashing them on public roads.
While Caradvice has stated it wasn't involved, it has of recent times promoted street-racing videos on its site.
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Re: Motoring Journalist in McLaren Hits Cyclist at West Head/Akuna NSW
Postby jules21 » Tue May 22, 2018 8:36 am
I hope the cyclist recovers and obviously that the driver is held to account for any wrongdoing.
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