10 Reasons Why Auto Journalism Is The Most Dangerous Job Ever

Thirty year-old Urmas Oja, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was driving a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer as it left the road and struck a bridge parapet.

Fortunately, such accidents among journalists are rare. Typically, most result in nothing more than a scuffed alloy, a severely dented ego' and an angry phone call from the carmaker's PR department. As they say, "it's all fun and games 'till someone gets hurt", so here are seven journalists who were lucky enough to walk away, three who weren't, and a case in point that auto journalism can be an extremely dangerous job.

10: Aaron Gold and a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

In February, journalist Aaron Gold became the first non-GM employee to damage a 580bhp Camaro ZL1. Gold claims to have been driving relatively slowly around a damp Virginia International Raceway, when he gave it too much welly coming off a turn, and slid into a tire-wall. Luckily the damage was purely cosmetic, but impressively, the car's OnStar communications system dialled 911 autonomously. Bet that was an awkward conversation.

9: Jeremy Clarkson and a Porsche 911 GT3

Credit where credit's due, we seldom see Jezza on the wrong side of the hedge, so to speak. More often than not, he's rolling Reliants into rivers - or blasting through brick walls in HGVs - for Top Gear, under the watchful eyes of a roll cage and crash helmet. This though, was a genuine mistake, and caught on film too...

8: Jethro Bovingdon and a Ferrari FF

“I’m just going to go a bit quicker, just so you can hear the gearshifts - which are unbelievable - and to see how committed to the throttle you can be on a very twisty, narrow road that shouldn’t really suit this car.” Just a longer, more involved version of the classic precursor “Watch this!”. Check out the video to see Jethro's priceless reaction, and click here to see the minor (although I'm sure many thousands of quids' worth of) damage.

7: Anonymous Journo and a Pagani Zonda

(In the absence of a decent photo - here's a pic' of a tasty, un-crashed Zonda. Click here to see the damage for yourselves)

Insurance broker Aviva was forced to cough up £300,000 - its biggest payout ever - to send this damaged Zonda back to Modena for repairs. Autocar Magazine said the car was being driven "by a colleague who was working for a rival magazine", and that the £528,000 car's owner was a passenger at the time of the accident. Claims that Jackie Stewart was the driver were later proved unfounded.

6: Two Chinese Journalists and a couple of AMG Mercedes'

Like the Russians, the Chinese aren't known for being great drivers. As such, it's far from surprising that a couple of Chinese journalists make an appearance on our list. A press event at the Zhuhai International Circuit earlier this year took a turn for the worse when a C63-driving journo' rear-ended an SLS AMG that'd braked hard without warning. Thankfully, both drivers were unharmed, which is more than can be said for the cars.

Image: Car News China/Weibo

5: Scott Evans and a Cadillac ATS

Motor Trend writer Scott Evans rolled this ATS (Caddy's 3-Series rival...) into a Georgia wood in June. He was taking part in a press-drive, heading towards a circuit on which he could wring the car's neck without getting a traffic ticket. In his own words: "

 was tighter than I thought and I didn't brake quite as much as I should have. As a result, I tracked wide at the exit," He continued, "It was the least-violent or exciting rollover you'd ever seen. It slowly tipped onto its side, then onto the roof and slid a few feet down the hill before coming to rest against a tree". Amazingly, no-one was hurt in the smash.

4: Thomas Glavinic and a Lamborghini Aventador

Austrian writer Glavinic was reportedly overtaking a line of vehicles when a HGV he was passing unexpectedly turned left, sideswiping the £200,000 Lambo' and sending off the road, onto the embankment and into a metal pole. He was fine, but both the car and his ego' took a bit of a battering.

3: Richard Hammond and a jet-propelled dragster

Everyone's favourite Hamster suffered life-theatening injuries in a 288mph jet-car crash at Elvington Airbase, near York, in 2006. Hammond was on his seventh and final run when one of the front tires blew, sending the Vampire into a deadly barrel role that left it partially embedded in the grass. The force of the impact had flipped open Hammond's visor, suffering him a near-fatal brain injury. It was nearly a year before Hammond returned to Top Gear.

2: Michael Cornette and an Ariel Atom, RIP

35 year-old Belgian newspaper journalist Michael Cornette was killed in January, when the Ariel Atom in which he was a passenger collided with a silo. The car's driver - its 30 year-old owner - suffered heavy injuries and was put into a medically induced coma. A local prosecutor blamed excessive speed and wet roads for the accident.

Image: Autoblog NL

1: Michel Barelli and an Opel GT, RIP

French journalist Michel Barelli was killed on a 2007 press launch, when the Opel GT he was driving plummeted from a mountain road, 40 miles east of San Diego.

Image: EVO Magazine