While driving along MacPherson Road in June 2016, Goh
Han Tiong made an ill-timed right turn despite the traffic signal not being in
his favour.
As a result, a motorcyclist had to swerve to avoid
Goh’s car and ended up crashing into a lamppost. The rider, 25-year-old Paul
Chandran Jayaraman, was flung onto the road and died from the impact.
Instead of stopping to help Chandran, the 53-year-old
Goh continued his turn and went on to collect his laptop from a nearby service
centre. He later passed the site of the accident on his return journey but
again did not stop to render assistance to the fallen motorcyclist.
At the State Courts on Monday (12 November), Goh was
sentenced to four months’ jail and was also banned from driving all classes of
vehicles for five years. He had pleaded guilty to one count of causing death
via a negligent act, one count of failing to stop and provide particulars and
one count of failing to render assistance.
One count of altering the evidence of the accident by
driving his car away and one count of failing to report the accident to the
police were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Accused made dangerous turn
The accident occurred at about 2.43 pm on 3 June 2016
as Goh headed to pick up his laptop from the Asus service centre located at
Burn Road. He drove along MacPherson Road towards Bendemeer Road before making
a right turn into Playfair Road at the signalised T-junction.
He did not pause at the “Stop” sign and turned even
though the right-turn arrow had not been in his favour. At the time, the
traffic lights were green in favour of vehicles going straight ahead in both
directions.
After driving across the first two lanes, Goh was
forced to stop to allow an oncoming car to travel straight towards Paya Lebar
Road. A lorry also had to slow down to give way to Goh.
Chandran, who was behind the lorry, filtered left to
overtake the lorry and was in Goh’s path when the latter accelerated.
In order to avoid colliding with Goh’s vehicle,
Chandran swerved to the left and lost control of his motorcycle. He collided
into a lamppost and was thrown onto the road.
Despite seeing Chandran falling, Goh completed his
turn and went to collect his laptop, said the prosecution. He passed through
the area on his way back but did not stop at the scene.
Chandran sustained head injuries and was conveyed to a
hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Extensive search conducted
An extensive search was carried out to ascertain Goh’s
identity. The police obtained CCTV footage from surrounding buildings and were
only able to trace Goh after a week.
A police officer who visited Goh’s residence afterward
found that he was on holiday with his family. The officer left his name card
with instructions for Goh to contact the police on his return.
However, Goh did not do so when he arrived at home on
the morning of 14 June. The police arrested him that afternoon.
In sentencing Goh, District Judge Mathew Joseph said
that Chandran had “his whole life ahead of him” but lost it due to Goh’s
negligence. He noted that all motorists should stay vigilant and pay attention
to road signs.
For the offence of causing death through a negligent
act, Goh could have been jailed up to two years, fined or both.
Source : Yahoonews
Forex Trading Scams to Watch
The
forex market involves very active trading of over $1 trillion each day, not
including futures and currency options, which put the trading at closer to $5
trillion daily. The market does not have
much in the way of regulation, although things have started to improve
recently.
The
opportunity still exists for many forex scams, which tempt new investors with a
promise of quick fortunes through "secret trading formulas" or
algorithm-based "proprietary" trading methodologies. Before choosing
a broker or platform, go through your own due diligence by visiting BASIC, or
the Background Affiliation Status Information Center, created by the
self-regulatory NFA (National Futures Association).
01
Signal Sellers
Stock
Market Illustration
One
of the challenges a rookie forex investor faces is determining which operators
to trust in the forex market and which to avoid. Signal sellers make a good
example.
Basically,
a signal seller is offering a system that purports to identify favorable times
for buying or selling a currency pair. The system may be manual, where the
trader enters the info and gets a result, or it may be automated.
Some
systems rely on technical analysis, others rely on breaking news and many
employ some combination of the two. But they all purport to provide information
that leads to favorable trading opportunities. Signal sellers usually charge a
daily, weekly or monthly fee for their services.
Some
analysts propose that many or even most signal sellers are scam artists. A
frequent criticism is that if it were really possible to use a system to beat
the market, why would the individual or firm that has this information make it
widely available? Wouldn't it make more sense to use this incredible signaling
system to make huge profits?
Other
analysts distinguish between known scammers and more reputable information
sources such as Metatrader, that offer a well-thought-out signaling service.
Behind
these opposing views lies a larger difference of opinion about whether anyone
can predict the next move in a trading market. This fundamental disagreement
won't be settled any time soon. Nobel Prize-winning Economist Eugene Fama
proposes in his well-regarded Efficient Market Hypothesis that finding these
kinds of momentary market advantages really isn't possible.
His
economist colleague, Robert Shiller, also a Nobel Prize winner, believes
differently, citing evidence that investor sentiment creates booms and busts
that can provide investment and trading opportunities.
The
best way to determine if a signal seller can benefit you is to open a paper
money or practice trading account with one of the better-known forex brokers.
Be patient, and eventually, you'll determine whether predictive signaling works
for you or doesn't.
02
Phony Forex Investment Management Funds
In
the world of investing, outrageous claims are the surest sign of potential
fraud
In
the past few years, forex management funds have proliferated. Most of these, if
not all, are scams. They offer an investor the "opportunity" to have
his forex trades managed by highly-skilled forex traders who can offer
outstanding market returns in return for a share of the profits.
The
problem is, this "management" offer requires the investor to give up
control over his money and to hand it to someone he knows little about other
than the hyped-up and often completely false record of success available on the
scammer's website and brochures.
The
investor often ends up getting nothing, while the scammer uses investors' funds
to buy yachts and private islands.
A
good rule of thumb in the forex market, as with other investments, is that if
it sounds almost too good to be true, such as annual returns of more than 100
percent, for example, it's almost certainly a scam.
03
Dishonest Brokers
Trader
watching stocks crash on screen
Although the forex market is not entirely
unregulated, it has no central regulating authority. The forex spot market is
completely unregulated and accounts for the majority of trades. Unsurprisingly,
some forex brokers do not deal fairly with their customers and, in some
instances, defraud them.
You
have two ways to avoid bad brokers. Before engaging a forex broker, look the
brokerage up on a website that identifies dishonest forex brokers. Better yet,
trade with a broker that also handles other stock market trades and is subject
to SEC and FINRA oversight. While the forex trade itself may be unregulated, no
broker subject to such oversight would risk its license for other securities by
defrauding its forex customers.
