Need to vent.

So I'm on my way to work today at 8am getting off the freeway to go east bound onto a street in dolton. As I'm getting to the end of the ramp where it's time to merge onto to the street I notice a black Altima stopped all the way on the shoulder past of where the mege lane ends with the left turn signal on ("that's weird" I think to my self). There is no one in the lane that I'm supposed to merge onto as far as the eye can see, so I decide to not mind the stopped vehicle and merge onto the street carefully. As I'm looking at my mirror to make sure there is no one there (which there wasn't) I continue to merge, exactly at that point the driver of the stopped Alima decided to make his move to get into the same lane I was in the process of merging onto. At this point I notice him moving onto to the roadway, however my passenger front was even with his driver side rear bumper. It was too late for me to stop competly to avoid this crash, and I didn't have an opening in the second lane so I ended up clipping his bumper. I get out and so does the other driver we look at the damage, its minor. Unfortunatelly since the vehicle I'm driving is a company truck/ mini van. So I had to call the authorites to obtain an accident report. In the mean time I want to get his information just to be safe. I find out that the car he is driving is his doughters (the guy was in his late 60s), he didn't have proof of insurance, or a drivers licence. At this point the guy hands me his phone to talk to his doughter. His doughter asked what happened, so I explaind. She demanded we exchange information so the guy can leave (crazy bitch). So the cop finally arrives at the scene, we go thru all the explaining, and than the boring wait for the paper work. The crazy thing is I got a ticket for "failure to reduce speed to avoid the accident". The other guy got like three tickets (no insurance, no licence, and inproper lane usage). Now I can't drive the work vehicle due to the company policies, so I have to drive my taco to work for like a week (75+ miles a day). The craziest part of this story: My partner (the guy I work with everyday) decided to check his horoscope, and so I decided to check mine. Here is exactly what it said (from yahoo):

Quickie

You'll have more luck solving problems by giving in. It's not easy, but it works.

Overview

Try to slow down today -- things are too crazy! If you're patient, you can get enough done to call it a day, but if you try to rush anything through, you are sure to end up farther behind.

 

WHOA Spooky horoscope!
Sorry to hear that, man - hope you feel better after you vented. At least you weren't in your prized taco!

Will they let you expense the miles, at least?

Man I can't believe you got a ticket -

 

Sorry about the ticket. Just wanted to check my horoscope too. Like you i am a Scorpio. I have to be careful today.

 

Matter of fact I feel a bit better now. Getting the ticked sucked, but if I was in my baby I would prob be getting locked up for makin the guy bit the curb. The company will not let me expense the miles or the gas so that blows big time, I hate putting alot of miles or her, when I shouldn't have to.

 

Yeah I wish I would've read it before I left my house today.

 

This is a total bummer! In July we had a bunch of rain here, and I used to drive a Toyota Celica. Visibility was terrible and there was a ton of standing water on the road. I was getting off on an exit and the big Dodge in front of me pulled off the interstate unexpectedly. I hit the breaks to slow down because I thought something must be wrong... ended up hydroplaining right into him! (I wasn't following to close either, he was completely stopped by the time I clipped his back end and scraped the whole drivers side of his truck, I slid A LONG WAY!) Turns out he had pulled over to reload his tobacco pipe... When the cops came they said the whole thing could have been avoided if I had just been going slower... I was going 50-55ish in a 65.... Accident was deamed "my fault" and my car was totalled... I was lucky I didn't hit him dead center of the back because my little low rider would have went right under the ass end of his truck...

In the end it worked out for me because I now have the truck I always pretended my sportscar was and now this hunting season I don't have to depend on boys to take me hunting in their trucks... I can take myself!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that something good will come out of it for you like it did for me! All in all people just need to pay more attention on the road, especially where there's traffic of high speeds! And boo for old people who pull over on the shoulders!

 

I try to drive my truck like I ride my motorcycle. Drive like you're invisible and everyone is out to kill you. It has saved me a few times.

 

Your situation blows too. Sorry to hear that man, glad you were ok. Like you said at least it worked out for you. Not sure how well this is going to work out for me, but I guess I'll see. What really sucks is that you got blamed for it, I don't see that beaing your fault at all. Dumb pigs.

 

I agree with you. The only thing I could have done to avoid this would've been to completly stop on the off ramp utill he pulled of. Than again driving in Chicago area is crazy sometimes. Alot of traffic, so if I did stop in the middle of the off ramp some other idiot would've prob slammed into me.

 

I'm a girl And they made it my fault because I lost control of my vehicle... Hydroplaning is one of the worst feelings ever... sliding around uncontrolably like you're on ice.... BU-MMER! Glad you are ok too, and sorry about having to add miles to your truck!

 

That is sexist. I can relate to knowing the feeling of not having control of your vehicle. Never hydroplanted any of my vehicles but winters in Chicago land area are crazy sometimes, black ice is the worst.

Edit: Thank you for the understanding, and your sincerity.

Edit 2: Sorry I didn't realize I was talkin to a lady.

 

So sorry to hear about your trouble Luke... that bites. I hate idiots who do things like that. You always gotta prepare for the worst

 

Thank you susan. Yes it sucks, and I agree you shoul've known better. I guess you can't predict everything. The other biatch of it was that since i was in a work truck/van I had to take a drug test, and I can't drive the work truck untill that clears. I was dealin with the drug test and paperwork till 4:30 today. Now i just have to go to court twice. Once for my ticket and the second time when he goes for his tickets. If I don't go the second time I will end up being found guilty for the accident and my driving privilidges will be suspended for a month.

WOW moto that is a horrible story, I'm really sorry to hear that. Accidents suck I had a really bad one 2.5 years ago, which cased me to have two surgeries on my foot. So I can deff relate to the feeling and problems from an injury from a car/bike crash.

 

I dont worry about cars that much. I had a new civic si cut me off and got in the next lane i was in then a F250 FX4 with a brush guard T boned it and it was the biggest fail i've seen in my life and i thought to myself thats what you get ricer

 

Major fail

 

Sucks that happened dude..Just a piece of advice to prevent future drama, be careful when using your vehicle for work purposes. If you crash and your insurance company determines you are using your truck for commercial purposes, they may not pay a claim (if you have a personal use policy). So you should look into getting commercial insurance if you are going to be using your truck FOR work.

Commercial use does not include commuting to and from your place of work. Only using your vehicle during the course of employment (driving to job sites, carrying tools, etc etc)

 

Thanks for that advice. I don't drive my taco for work, well that is when am not in trouble with the policies at work. The company I work for supplies a work truck for me. My taco is maily used for personal use. The only time I drive my taco for work purposes is when I can't drive to work truck whatever the reason might be.