So last weekend I'm driving to base in my old t-bird and get on an on ramp to the expressway. Traffic is very light as it is a Saturday morning and the upcomming lanes it's merging with is clear. There is an almost u-turn (25mph ramp) before the merge lane begins (there is a minimum speed of 45 on the merge lane into the 65mph expressway) and as soon as I get around the corner I see a Mazda Miata ahead of me by about 5 car lengths that is speeding up and about to merge on the expressway, so I too see that traffic is clear and the merge is safe and begin to speed up as well and make sure it's clear to make my way over to the fast lane. Well... the Miata is about 4 car lengths ahead now and is still speeding up but not as fast as me and then what happens? The dumb ***** slams her f***ing brakes HARD and I try to dodge her but clip her driverside rear. We pull over out of the merge lane so people can get on the expressway and wait for the cops after we called them.

According to all law I KNOW I am AT FAULT because I "rear ended" someone, because that is how the law states it. So it isn't a question so much as am I guilty, because the law says I am but more of WHY THE HELL isn't there some sort of common sense to this law? Even before this happened I always joked around about how people can just slam their brakes and let people hit them to collect insurance money and just to be a-holes on the road in some beater car (even though the Miata isn't a beater but you know what I am talking about). I mean look at this case for example:

1) There was no stop sign or even a YIELD sign for that matter posted on that on ramp.
2) There was in fact a minimum speed of 45 mph (for a reason we now see).
3) There was no reason to hit the brakes at all, let alone slam on them to come to a complete stop.
4) I wasn't tailgating, but was speeding up to meet the roads speed requirements and so was the Miata, but this situation turned ugly anyway because it was just so far out there (kinda like how you don't have to be speeding to end up hitting a deer, you weren't expecting something like that at all).
5) Anyone that WANTS someone to hit them could EASILY pull it off using that method - it's a no brainer. Take for example by buddy at the moment; someone did a hit and run on his back bumper in a parking lot and got away with it therefore insurance will not pay for his repair. He could easily do what the Miata did to force someone to rear end him and insurance of the person that rearended him would have to pay to fix his car and he couldn't do anything about it because no matter what if you rearend someone you are "at fault". All my buddy has to do to get it fixed for FREE is slam on his damn brakes somewhere and take advantage of someone.

I DID NOT argue with the cop (who was also female btw, and a very butch one at that..), I just said yes m'am keeping my military bearing and took the warning citation (at least I didn't get a real ticket and didn't get any points) which was giving to me for careless driving as in any fender bender accident as a bare minimum where someone is 'at fault'. But the fact that my insurance is going up now just ticks me off.

On a side note; time for the good stuff; the CAR DAMAGE! I lost one of my front right blinkers and broke the plastic cover piece next to the headlight, and I put a small hole in the plastic bumperguard and a small quartersized dent in my right front fender (what is it with my cars and damage there?) and of course scratched paint around the dent.

...the Miata... well... lol lets just say Miata's don't hold up too well against a 20 year old t-bird tank. The whole bumper is trashed now from the drivers side to the middle, her entire taillight on the drivers side is obliterated and was all over the place, possibly bent up trunk, and lots of scratched up paint around the area. Her gas tank is currently exposed too. The fact that it was a rather new (2001) Miata makes it all the better.

I've determined my t-bird hates Mazdas... the Mazda 3 that did a hit and run on me (and got away with it btw) that scratched my drivers side front bumper (which I repainted with a $4 can of paint) and knocked off my front license plate had a NIIIICE dent and scratch all down the passenger side fender. I was stopped at an intersection when he swiped me swurving over too far from the crossing traffic. I guess the jokes on him...

Anyway, that is my little rant. Sorry it was lengthier than I planned but oh well, this kind of stuff ticks me off.