He does, in fact, have a lengthy rap sheet of Highway Traffic Act offences — 26 in four years — but most are for licence plate issues and speeding, and he has no criminal history. He believes police stop him more frequently than others because they are suspicious of a young man of colour driving a nice car.
taylor192
02-15-2012 07:59 AM
Crash scam
This was posted on an Ontario forum. What's worse is the fucking media sides with the scammer who has 26 infractions in 4 years. Someone key his car.
From the video comments:
Quote:
Please watch till the end. This was a minor accident happened on Feb 9, 2012 but it may happen on you so please beware of these fake accidents.
What happened at the end? Well, he called the cops because he thought that installing dash camera is illegal and told me I'm not allowed to do so. Obviously it's LEGAL! He also warned me not to hide the cam until the OPP arrives :P SURE y not! The OPP arrived and copied down all of our info but I told him I have footage that can prove everything. He refused to look at it because this is a minor accident. I showed the RAW footage to my insurance company and I'm 0% at fault. Let God do the rest.
Once upon a time, angry fender-bender victims who wanted to allege the other guy was an idiot or a crook were limited to an audience of family and friends.
But as two GTA motorists are finding out, all it takes in 2012 to transform a minor car accident into a reputation-threatening debacle is a dashboard camera, YouTube and the so-called wisdom of crowds.
Last Thursday, Ajax resident Raguruban Yogarajah and Mississauga student Herman Sham were involved in a fender-bender on the 401. Neither dispute that while they were stopped in cramped rush-hour traffic, Yogarajah’s black Honda Acura rolled backwards and bumped Sham’s Subaru.
Sham believes Yogarajah was trying to scam him, and 130,000 YouTube viewers largely agree.
But Yogarajah says it was a genuine mistake. He’s worried for his family’s safety since venomous — and sometimes racist — commenters started posting his personal information online. “I work two jobs. I don’t need to go scamming for $500 to live my life,” says Yogarajah.
Sham, 24, a photography student, captured Thursday’s fender-bender on a $40 dashboard camera.
The next day, he uploaded the footage to YouTube with the title “The reason why you need a dash camera (scam foiled).” In the video, he added word bubbles alleging Yogarajah demanded $500 on the spot to pay for the damage.
“Please be aware of these fake accident(s),” Sham wrote online.
Viewers — more than 125,000 in the last 36 hours — have added a running commentary of vitriol, threats and racism.
One called Yogarajah a “scumbag” and posted his home address in Ajax. “Don’t underestimate technology and the power of the internet,” the commenter wrote.
Yogarajah is worried and scared.
He says the first thing he told Sham was, “Did you bump into me or did I bump into you?” His car is a manual, and he says it probably rolled backward when he distractedly took his foot off the brake.
The video doesn’t seem to show Yogarajah’s reverse lights come on. He points to this as proof he didn’t reverse, while YouTube commenters use it as proof he disconnected them and his tail lights in advance. In the sunlight’s glare, it’s impossible to tell if either was working.
Yogarajah doesn’t deny he is at fault for the collision. But he got frustrated at the scene because, he says, Sham insisted Yogarajah had reversed on purpose. So Yogarajah called police himself (a move Sham admits was “weird”).
Yogarajah, 26, works at a bank during the week and as a telecommunications sales rep on the weekends, helping support his extended family. He says he saved up for three years to buy his car and wouldn’t think of damaging it for $500.
He does, in fact, have a lengthy rap sheet of Highway Traffic Act offences — 26 in four years — but most are for licence plate issues and speeding, and he has no criminal history. He believes police stop him more frequently than others because they are suspicious of a young man of colour driving a nice car.
The YouTube video clearly shows Yogarajah’s licence plate. Since it was posted, web denizens have posted not only his address but his sister’s, where she lives with her three children.
He says he’s spoken to the Toronto police and the RCMP on six occasions about the online threats, but all have said they have no jurisdiction over YouTube and some were dismissive of his safety concerns.
Sham says he wasn’t trying to ruin Yogarajah’s reputation. He only wanted other drivers to be aware that dashboard cameras can be useful for insurance purposes.
He says he believes now that Yogarajah may have accidentally put the car in neutral, and not intentionally reversed, though he still maintains Yogarajah asked for money. “I really don’t want to screw him, or anything.”
Sham’s car damage is minor.
“It would have been solved if he just gave me a chance to talk to him,” says Yogarajah.
“It’s a minor scratch. All this trouble for no reason.”
hmm so did he really roll back into the car or not...
this reminds me though one time sittin in traffic rush hour, some dumb bitch almost rolled right back into a pick up truck... this wasnt even a hill just a slight incline, i did beep for the pick up truck driver, he also beeped and started bitchin at her which was kinda funny the way he said it "what, are you fucking stupid?".... she was inches away from hitting him.. did not reverse at all whatsoever, i would of been a witness if it did happen as i was right beside them and witnessed right infront of my eyes
taylor192
02-15-2012 08:34 AM
Did anyone else notice his brake lights don't seem to work. In the sunlight maybe you cannot see them, yet once he pulls into the shade they are still not visible.
SpuGen
02-15-2012 08:41 AM
lol the "Rag" guy is trying to defend himself in the comments section under "MrPolitical00"
and it's clearly not a "rollback"
Standard transmission cars don't just ROLL BACK on a flat surface after stopping..
With the clutch disengaged, on a FLAT surface, you'd need some kind of momentum to get it rolling.
He probably unplugged his reverse lights.
cho
02-15-2012 08:45 AM
i dont know, when i start to roll back i hit my brake right away =|
gretzky
02-15-2012 08:49 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by cho
(Post 7797507)
i dont know, when i start to roll back i hit my brake right away =|
if you got your eyes on your cell phone, you wont notice if you are rolling back or not.. unless on big ass hill maybe...
SpuGen
02-15-2012 08:51 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by gretzky
(Post 7797508)
if you got your eyes on your cell phone, you wont notice if you are rolling back or not.. unless on big ass hill maybe...
If you're a competent driver, you would notice if your car is rolling back...unless you suck at driving.
group buy for this camera for those who are interested
Wow so far they got about a hundred signed up. Too bad it's in Toronto.
gretzky
02-15-2012 08:52 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpuGen
(Post 7797511)
If you're a competent driver, you would notice if your car is rolling back...unless you suck at driving.
true, of course you would want to check up every once in 5 seconds if you were on your cell phone.. but if you got your eyes constantly on your crotch you wont know..
taylor192
02-15-2012 09:01 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by gretzky
(Post 7797513)
true, of course you would want to check up every once in 5 seconds if you were on your cell phone.. but if you got your eyes constantly on your crotch you wont know..
I bet the scammer would use this sort of stupid defence too. Cell phones are banned while driving in Ontario too, and the fine/points are much higher than here.
SumAznGuy
02-15-2012 09:08 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by gretzky
(Post 7797513)
true, of course you would want to check up every once in 5 seconds if you were on your cell phone.. but if you got your eyes constantly on your crotch you wont know..
I've had times where I was parked and the car next to me starts moving and I see it out of the corner of my eyes and I quickly jump on the brakes thinking we are moving. Then I get the are you nuts look from the wife. :rukidding:
