Francesca’s Terrifying Car Crash

Hello all!

My name is Francesca Rubino-Chuckas. I’m a young adult from Stamford, CT. On Monday, June 14th, 2021 at approximately 11:35 PM, I was driving North near exit 33 coming home from Cranford, NJ on the Merritt Parkway. Exit 33 happens to be the exit I merge off at to get home, so when the collision occurred, I was within 3 miles of my house.

Right before my exit, there happens to be a historical bridge going over the parkway. As I was going under the bridge in the left lane, a massive black trailer (a vehicle which is illegal on the Merritt Parkway) realized it wasn’t going to make it under the right side of the bridge, so it swerved into my lane in an attempt to fit under the peak of the bridge. By doing this, the trailer cut me off forcing me to slam on the brakes. It was raining and the ground was wet, so I lost traction almost immediately and spun out, hitting both the left and right guardrails.

I was extremely disoriented and banged up pretty badly. Having never been in an accident before this, I had no clue what to do. Luckily, a kind family from Meriden, CT stopped, pulled me out of my car, put me in theirs, and waited around for the cops and ambulance to come, as they witnessed the whole accident. The trailer never stopped and kept driving.

This near-death experience was one of the most horrifying moments of my life, but at this point I’m not sure what’s scarier—nearly dying in a car crash, the driver at fault never pulling over to see if I was okay, or having endless fees as the aftermath of this insanity.

Although I am not at fault for the incident, since the trailer driver never stopped, I have hospital bills, towing bills, and I am in need of a used vehicle. Please, as a community, help me tackle this!

With lots of love,

Francesca