So saturday afternoon I was headed back from my grandfathers memorial, spreading his ashes in the river he grew up on. I was headed down the highway by our outlet mall, when a guy in an explorer cut people off pulling out of the mall (coming up on a red light btw) when he noticed he was about to hit the car in front of him, he swerved into my lane (about 20ft behind stopped traffic)

I was braking for the car in front of me.. I had adequate stopping distance when he cut me off leaving me about 25ft between me and him (him promptly slamming on his brakes, stopping short of the car in front of him) I slammed into the back of him at about 15-20mph... He had a trailer hitch which made everything worse but had my car not been so low it probably would have set the airbags off (which didnt happen)

I have 2 witnesses attesting to the fact he cut off traffic, thereby causing the accident. I wasn't ticketed so thats a plus I guess, I'll leave it to the insurance companies to battle it out.


It doesn't look that bad but its bad. Front bumper beam is bent back about 4". Right front frame-rail is tweaked, drivers side headlight tabs broke... core support looks like a twizzler. Hood is done (obviously) hood support, etc. as are the impact foam, fog lights, the grille (look on the ground) horns, ac evaporator (condenser whatever) It also broke the radiator mounts, pushing the radiator back into the motor. I can't open the hood at this point since the latch is wrapped around itself but just what I can visibly see damage wise tallies up to roughly 5300 dollars, not including the labor, paint, etc. Not to mention there's probably going to be more once the front end comes apart the hood finally opens.

And my truck got totaled today.... middle car in a 5 car sandwich, thanks to a guy hauling a boat not seeing stopped traffic.