Nicholas Cameron’s heartbroken siblings are still trying to process the “ridiculous” way he died on March 21 while sitting in the back seat of an Uber car en route to Pearson airport.

The driver, Abdihared Bishar Mussa, had steered his 2012 Hyundai Sonata onto the shoulder of the Gardiner Expressway, near Royal York Rd., to remount his fallen cellphone on the dashboard. He was attempting to slowly merge back into traffic when the car was slammed from behind by a BMW, Toronto police said after the crash.

Mussa, who recently moved to Toronto from Ottawa, had started driving for Uber just four days earlier to help his family. The BMW driver broke his hand in the crash and Mussa, 23, escaped without injury.

Cameron, who was 28, was taken to hospital without vital signs and died in hospital the following day.

Such tragedies are inevitable since the city abdicated its role in the safety regulation of the vehicle-for-hire industry, say critics of Toronto’s 2016 reforms, which scrapped 17-day mandatory driver training, loosened vehicle standards, and let the newly created Private Transportation Companies (PTC), such as Uber, essentially regulate themselves.

“There are too many instances of app-dispatched drivers causing severe problems, in some tragic cases passenger deaths, caused by untrained, unprofessional drivers,” reads a July editorial in Taxinews.

Uber drivers must pass background screening and will be denied a PTC licence if they have accumulated nine or more demerit points — at the time of the application or renewal — or if they have been convicted of serious Highway Traffic Act offences, such as racing or stunt driving, or failing to remain at the scene of an accident, in the preceding five years.

Cameron’s family believes the loosened rules fall short of protecting the travelling public.

In June, Cameron’s mother Cheryl Hawkes appeared before the city’s municipal licensing and standards committee and urged councillors to re-examine how the vehicle-for-hire drivers are regulated. Currently, it is up to Uber to deal with complaints or problems with Uber drivers, not city staff.

For Nicholas Cameron, it’s too late.

He and his girlfriend — who sustained minor injuries in the crash — were heading to Mexico for a vacation, before Cameron was to return to Toronto to start the next phase in his life.

“He was just working so hard lately in getting his life in order, and setting himself up. He wanted to go to law school and was starting a new job, teaching part-time, volunteering, going to the gym,” said older brother Patrick Cameron, 35.

“He was just at his prime,” said his sister, Rachel Cameron Burns, 34.

Their father was late TV broadcaster Bill Cameron, who died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 62.

“Nick” was just 15 when his father died. “It shaped who he was as a person. He was so close to our dad,” said Rachel. “We were all extremely close after that, going through that together,” added her brother.

The siblings met with the Star last week in a west-end coffee shop because they want to raise awareness about the dangers of hiring a ride in a city that has stripped away regulatory requirements.

“We don’t have an agenda, or we’re not trying to be experts on what policy or regulation should change. All we know is that Nick shouldn’t have been killed the way he was and that it will happen to other people if things don’t change,” said Rachel, a mother of two small children.

The Camerons can’t help but feel anger toward Uber, the San Francisco-based giant whose arrival in Toronto led to a major overhaul of the vehicle-for-hire industry.

“People should just be aware that when you call an Uber, the chances are, most Uber drivers are conscientious, but you just don’t know. There’s no guarantee and we’re not saying taxis don’t have their own safety problems,” said Patrick, adding: “We’re not trying to make this some scare story about Uber.”

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Still, he feels Uber’s “star rating” system — where passengers rate the driver — is inadequate. “It’s like Uber’s customers are doing their safety test for them.”

Uber spokesperson Andrew Hasbun said the company co-operated with the police and the driver no longer has access to Uber.

Every Uber driver must pass a background screening and the driver met the bylaw requirements in Toronto, he wrote in an email.

“No words can ease the pain of losing a loved one. Our thoughts are with those involved and Nicholas’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.”

Compounding the Camerons’ grief is that they’ve been told Mussa, originally charged with four Criminal Code offences, including criminal negligence causing death, is expected only to plead guilty to careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act.

“It just traumatizes the family a second time … it feels like Nick didn’t matter,” said Patrick. “It’s not that we want to see this guy’s life ruined, but just to be found guilty of careless driving it’s just … I have very little confidence in the justice system.”

Crown attorney Michael Coristine would not confirm anything about the case except the existing charges and that Mussa will be back in court Oct. 25. He is out on $3,000 bail and is not allowed to be in the front seat of any vehicle as a condition of his release.

Mussa’s lawyer, David Parry, wrote in an email that his client “was actually doing the responsible thing when he pulled over and stopped on the shoulder to put his phone back in the dash cradle. The sad part is that Mr. Mussa’s mistake in prematurely pulling out onto the highway had disastrous consequences, but just because Mr. Cameron tragically died does not transform that mistake into a criminal act.”

Parry added that dangerous driving and criminal negligence — Mussa was charged with both — require a high level of criminal fault or intent.

“The law essentially asks what a reasonable person would do in the circumstances, and only a marked departure from that norm is a crime. We can all think of situations in our lives where we’ve misjudged the situation and ended up making a careless mistake with bad consequences. That doesn’t make us a criminal.”

Mussa had a clean driving record and no criminal record, Parry said, adding his client is extremely saddened by Mr. Cameron’s death and the impact it has had on his family.

He intends to make a donation to a charity as part of the resolution of this case.

Correction – Aug. 28, 2018: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Nicholas Cameron was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was taken to hospital without vital signs and died the next day.

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