Eventful, eh?

This is my car, or rather the current condition of the rear end of my vehicle. The vehicle is over ten years old (it is a 1994 Ford Aerostar that my parents purchased at the very end of the model year) yet not in terrible shape.

Earlier this winter (during the first snow, which I'd forgotten about because it has been so mild since) I did have to replace the starter, but that is about all I've had to do since I purchased the van from my parents.

Last March I was involved in a minor accident, but no structural damage occurred and everything went on as normal. Yesterday was a different story. If you happen to live in northern Kentucky or the Cincinnati area then you'll probably recognize what I'm about to describe--or perhaps you know of something similar where you live. The exit ramp from Hell! No, I'm not exaggerating, this belongs along the route to Sheol.

Both I-75 and I-71 (I almost typed the 75 and the 71 before I remembered that I'm not in California, ;-)) run north/south (odd numbers) through Cincinnati. They actually split right north of the river to take divergent courses through the city, after joining together some twenty or thirty miles south of the river. I-275 is an interstate route that roughly runs around the city.

The exit I use to get to bigg's is the Erlanger exit off I-75/71. Unfortunately as you exit to your right two lanes join this off-ramp area to the further right. One is a straight on-ramp, the other is a merging lane from I-275. Now to actually exit the freeway you need to merge right at least one lane, but preferably two. Most of the traffic coming in from the far right (and always going a good clip) wants to merge to the far left, rather than exiting the freeway. This is bad enough when traffic is light and the lanes essentially need to switch from right to left and left to right. Now mix it up some.

Add in heavy rush hour traffic coming into the exit ramp area from the right and add in a setting sun that has been hitting you in the eyes (despite your lowered sun shield) for the past ten minutes. All of this together is a recipe for disaster.

I was trying to move over to the right so that I could exit and get to bigg's when I realized I wouldn't make it over. Since the car ahead of me was also having difficulties moving the driver had had to come to a stop. I also had to stop behind him, a bit quickly, but still safely. Unfortunately the car behind me did not have such good fortune. He did hit his brakes, but too late to avoid slamming into my bumper.

The impact was at a low speed, and I wasn't physically injured, but he did damage my bumper as you can see above. His car was damaged slightly, but nothing like what happened to my bumper. I'm not sure yet what his insurance will cover--I'm waiting to find out. I need to get the police report sometime near the end of the week (if I have time to go to the police station). Thankfully it isn't structural damage and I could survive without fixing it (I don't have collision insurance for my vehicle because of its age), it just wouldn't look pretty. Unfortunately my trailer hitch (which I haven't used yet--but I have hopes of using if the van holds out for years yet) was jarred out of place. I'm not sure if it is currently safe and/or usable. :(

On a more positive note I have my security badge for work. The Kentucky plant just issued me a contractor's badge--but the Ohio facility is larger and has actual security personnel (or at least one). They insisted on giving me an actual badge. Unfortunately I forgot to comb my hair before the picture, and my glasses were dark. I have Transitions lenses that turn dark in the sun, but before my long walk to the guard shack today I haven't spent enough time outside in the sun for them to go dark in many, many weeks.

~Matt