Dash Cam Stops Road Rage

Motorist's confrontation with angry men ends after they spot his in-car camera

The potential victim believes his car camera saved him from what could have been a violent road rage incident.

"When they came close, they realised my car had a camera that was recording the whole thing," says the motorist, who asked to be known only as Mr Kevin because he fears retaliation.

"The two of them became less rude and started walking back to their car."

That Sunday afternoon on July 5 began with a pleasant drive.

The 44-year-old events planner was making good time on the Central Expressway in light traffic.

He and his 69-year-old mother were on the way to pick up her heart medication at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

But as he filtered out to exit at Moulmein Road at around 4.30pm, the car in front suddenly screeched to a halt.

Instinctively, Mr Kevin jammed the brakes on his hatchback, stopping just in time to prevent a collision.

He tells The New Paper on Sunday: "I did not expect the car to suddenly stop. There was no car in front of him.

"To me it was weird. Why would he need to stop?"

Not wanting to cause a scene, Mr Kevin did not think much of it.

Seeing the car in front starting to move off, he prepared to do the same.

WITHOUT WARNING

But without warning, the car suddenly braked again.

This time, Mr Kevin was a split second too late and his front bumper slightly nudged the other car.

"I couldn't understand what was going on. Why did the guy keep on stopping?" says Mr Kevin.

"It was almost as if he wanted me to bang into him."

As soon as his car nudged the one in front, two men got out of the car and approached Mr Kevin.

He recounts that they looked "angry", and they were shouting at him while making rude gestures.

The scene scared his mother. Mr Kevin had to calm her down while keeping his cool.

He says: "It was they who stopped and made me bang into them. I should have been the angry one."

As they approached his car, the men started accusing Mr Kevin of deliberately not stopping in time.

But Mr Kevin argued that he had not seen any car, and there was no reason for them to stop.

"They kept on repeating: 'Got car in front, got car in front', even though there was no car, and they had no legitimate reason to suddenly jam the brake," says Mr Kevin.

But when the duo got close to Mr Kevin's car, they suddenly froze.

The entire incident was recorded on Mr Kevin's dashboard camera.

Mr Kevin believes that once the pair saw his recording device, they backed off.

Later, a third man appeared from in front of their car and approached Mr Kevin's car but was stopped by its driver and disappeared off-camera.

The incident was over as quickly as it happened. The pair quickly sped off.

Mr Kevin considered chasing them but decided against it because he did not want to alarm his mother.

Mr Kevin, who installed the camera in his car two years ago, feels fortunate that the surveillance prevented him and his family from getting hurt.

"I had the evidence that it was not my fault," says Mr Kevin. "Even if they wanted to insist that I hit them, the footage in my camera would have showed the truth."