Behind the headlines, Perth’s car cruise community is on edge

It’s a freezing cold Saturday night and a group of people are huddled together in the dark of an empty car park in Perth’s south-east.

Smaller groups of two or three are peering under the hoods of cars, others are leaning on a roof, talking about their latest lift kit, wrap or tyres and some are just chatting, catching up after what was a tense week.

This gathering in Canning Vale is a car meet, one of many held around Perth, and while there’s usually a much bigger crowd ready to go for a drive – or cruise – the numbers have dropped significantly after a shocking incident earlier in July that saw a 17-year-old girl hospitalised with critical injuries.

“Everyone’s kind of scared at the moment,” the organisers of Limitless Car Cruises, Cameron and Mitchell, say.

“[The police] are borderline between either yellow-stickering and shutting everything down to get rid of all this from happening ever again, or letting us continue and hopefully we can fix it ourselves.”

The organisers, who asked for their last names not to be used, are talking about an increased police presence at car meets across Perth, and the feeling that, after the Burswood incident, enthusiasts will be punished for attending them.

While some in the community would welcome that, assuming all car meets and cruises attract reckless young hoons, those involved in the city’s car culture say there’s much more to the events than that.

“We’re a bunch of people who respect cars and have the same passion,” Mitchell says.

“Whether you’re driving a Chrysler or you’re driving a Getz … it’s what you’ve got done to it, what you’re imagining to do to it … tell me about it. I want to know.”

In Canning Vale, Limitless are holding their first car meet since the Burswood incident that put the scene in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

On that night, Chun Lai Yuen, 25, was allegedly travelling at almost 100km/h in a 40km/h zone along Camfield Drive when he hit 17-year-old Caitlyn Dickson, causing her to fly into the air before hitting the bonnet of the car.

She was taken to hospital, undergoing surgery for life-altering injuries including a torn aorta, fractured pelvis, fractured elbow, bladder tears and spleen tears.

Caitlyn was just a spectator at the meet, and the crash happened after the event finished as cars were filing out along the narrow roads Burswood peninsula roads.

In a statement released after the crash, Caitlyn’s parents said they were “still in shock”, but described their daughter as “a fighter”, while a fundraiser set up to support her said she was “bright, beautiful soul”.

Yuen was released on bail after being charged with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in circumstances of aggravation. He will be back before the courts in a few weeks’ time.

On the Saturday night in Canning Vale, the police drive past a few times and speak to the Limitless organisers, find out what they have planned. Then officers let them know they’ll be watching. Closely.

The boys give them a map of their planned cruise that night, and then give the group a hard talk about expected behaviour on the road.

It’s not the actual gathering that catches authorities’ attention, but the cruises afterwards, where people behind the wheels of what can often be high-powered, modified cars are susceptible to the urge to show off in front of their friends.

While Cameron and Mitchell concede some of the car meets do attract the wrong people, they say that the majority do the right thing.

And those who don’t are not welcome.

“I can’t control what you do, but I can control who I report it to and get the plates and the information we need. Cam and I are pretty big on that,” Mitchell says.

“We will notify the police and let them deal with it accordingly.

“We tell them, ‘You need to either leave or you need to pull your head in’, either way. I’ll take a photo his licence plate and Cam and I will have a discussion about how we’re going to deal with it.”

But the problem is widespread, they say, and getting worse.

“We try and communicate with the other admins of the other crews and just let them know, ‘hey, let’s try and get together and fix this before it becomes an issue’,” they say.

“Because if we don’t fix it now, it’s going to be too late. We’re not going to have a car scene … all the people that come out to these events and spend money on cars will have nowhere to go, nothing to do, and it’s going to be our own faults, because no one’s taking a stand.”

Why do Perth’s car meets attract thousands? And who are the people behind the cars?

There’s about 18 separate car clubs in Perth and, if you’re keen, you can attend one every night of the week.

But with some of the clubs attracting thousands of participants, questions have been raised about how they can keep control of all of their members.

Whether a few hoons will ruin the scene for everyone, remains to be seen, but if car meets and cruises are stamped out, it won’t just be the hoons that will be sidelined.

“It would be a huge loss for everyone that’s trying to do the right thing,” Mitchell says.

“For some people, coming here is the highlight of their week. And they get so much more out of it than just showing off their car.”

After the horror crash earlier in June, WA Premier Roger Cook it was an opportunity for police “to reflect on how they monitor these gatherings”.

But, questioned on whether there should be limits on the types of cars young people can drive – particularly P-platers, given a spate of horror crashes recently involving novice drivers – Cook said the bigger focus should be making sure they had the skills needed behind the wheel.

In Canning Vale, cute Minis sit side by side with beasty LandCruisers, and V8 engines idle alongside your average four cylinders. No one’s bragging. No one’s showing off. And no one seems to feel inadequate.

Not all car clubs are like this one, but the premise is the same: bring your car, meet some like-minded people and share your passion.

For 22-year-old Daneika from Gidgegannup, the meets are also an opportunity to socialise away from pubs and bars. She was introduced by a friend.

When asked what she gets out of it, she sums it up in one word:“Community.”

“My mum and dad both used to go around the car scene when they were younger,” she says.

“They loved it for the same reasons, it was a community, that’s what it’s about.”

Like others, Daneika says the incident earlier in June has concerned all enthusiasts who attend club meets.

“It’s kind of ruffled everyone,” she says.

“But it has been a wake up call that they’ve kind of needed.

“We don’t want that. We don’t want the speeding. We don’t want the hooning. No one wants to see anyone get hurt.”

Joseph is 18 years old. He is accompanied to the car meets by his mentor and support worker, Chris Cady, who believes they will have a positive influence on the keen car enthusiast and amateur photographer.

“Obviously, there’s the dangerous side to it when there’s people that are not doing the right thing,” Cady says.

“But I always use that as an opportunity … these kids, they have no fear.

“A whole lot of people are probably traumatised from what they saw on that night, which should be part of [getting] your license.

“Like, if you do this, this is what will happen.”

But Cady says that those that really love their cars, don’t want to speed.

“People in the right car clubs, they don’t want to wreck their cars because they’re putting their life into it,” he says.

“It’s kind of a reflection of them, almost. That’s how I see cars. It’s a personality thing.”

Shannon McLeod, 33, travelled to Canning Vale from Serpentine for the Illicit meet.

She is passionate about her 2004 V8 Commodore, and she grew up in the car scene.

Her 69-year-old nanna still cruises around in her prized Mustang, ignoring boys her grandchildren’s age that try and race her on the road.

But Shannon says there’s a dark side to the community if you’re a woman.

“The amount of girls that want to get into cars but feel intimidated … even I feel intimidated, going to get car parts and the blokes are all looking at me,” Shannon says.

“Get rid of that stigma that girls can’t do what guys do.

“I’ve been to some of the bigger events and I stopped going because it was nasty, yeah, people are absolutely nasty to you.”

Mother and daughter duo Rikke and Michelle run a high-end car decal sticker business, Bella Custom. They go to most of the car meets to set up a stand and advertise their work.

“We’ve had girls come up to us at some of the meets and say they’re being harassed by guys, asking for help,” they said.

“We just tell them we’ll speak to the organisers for you.”