This turns into a blame fight immediately

If a driver came the wrong way down an off-ramp in South Burlington and hit you, the insurance company is not automatically going to do the decent thing.

That's the first ugly part.

No witnesses means the adjuster starts looking for reasons to say the story is "unclear," "conflicting," or "not independently verified." That's insurance-speak for: we might deny this, or offer garbage, and see if you crack.

On I-89 ramps around South Burlington, especially near Exit 14 by Dorset Street and the busier connectors toward Williston Road, a wrong-way move sounds insane until it happens in bad light, rain, or after someone misses a turn and panics. Spring makes it worse. Dirty pavement markings, leftover sand, wet roads, dark early mornings for farm crews driving in from Addison or Chittenden County. A driver screws up for five seconds and your whole month gets blown apart.

Then the lying starts.

The other driver is lying. So what actually proves it?

In a no-witness case, the crash scene and vehicle damage matter more than people realize.

A wrong-way driver on an off-ramp usually leaves a physical story behind: point of impact, angle of crush, where the debris field landed, where each vehicle came to rest, whether the front ends are square or offset, whether one car was still climbing the ramp while the other was coming down it. That stuff matters because it doesn't "misremember."

If police responded, get the crash report, but don't treat it like gospel. Sometimes the report is thin. Sometimes the officer just writes that both drivers claimed different things. Fine. You still want it, because it locks in time, location, road conditions, and any early statements.

You also want 911 call records if someone reported a wrong-way vehicle before impact. Even one call about "a car coming down the ramp the wrong way" can blow up the lie.

And move fast on video. Not because the state has some magic highway footage waiting for you forever. Because it usually doesn't last. Nearby gas stations, plaza cameras, hotel lots, and traffic-facing business cameras near South Burlington ramps overwrite footage quickly. The insurance company knows that. Delay helps them.

The recorded statement is a trap

When the adjuster calls sounding friendly and asks for "just your side so we can get this resolved," slow down.

This is where people get punished for being injured.

You're sore, maybe medicated, maybe English isn't your first language, maybe you've missed work on a farm or orchard and you're worried about rent more than phrasing. The adjuster doesn't give a damn about any of that. A recorded statement taken while you're shaken up gives them little snippets to weaponize later.

"I didn't see him until the last second."

That can become: you weren't paying attention.

"I might have been near the center."

That can become: you crossed over.

"I'm not sure exactly where his car came from."

That can become: your account is unreliable.

If they already have the other driver's lie, they're listening for inconsistencies, not truth.

Lowball money comes next

Vermont's minimum liability limits are still 25/50/10.

That last number is the joke: only $10,000 minimum for property damage. On a newer truck or even a decent used car, that can disappear fast. If your vehicle was hit hard on an off-ramp and pushed into a barrier, that minimum is nothing.

For a seasonal agricultural worker, that's not some abstract insurance number. That's transportation to fields, housing, stores, appointments, everything.

And if the adjuster says, "We're accepting this as a shared-fault situation," watch your wallet. Vermont follows modified comparative negligence. Push enough blame onto you, and they shrink what they pay. Push it to 51% on you, and they try to pay nothing.

What to gather before the story gets rewritten

Get these locked down early:

• crash report, tow records, scene photos, vehicle photos before repair, 911 logs, any camera footage request, medical notes from the first visit, and proof of where you were headed and why

That last part matters. If you were driving to a farm job in South Burlington or heading back from work, your timeline should line up. Phone location data, timecards, texts to a crew lead, gas receipts, all of it can support that you were where you said you were.

If you were hurt, the first medical record matters more than people think. If the ER or urgent care note says "patient reports wrong-way driver on off-ramp," that helps because it was said before the insurance fight fully developed.

Delay is not neutral

When an adjuster goes quiet for two weeks, asks for "one more review," then asks again for a statement, then says liability is still under investigation, that is not harmless bureaucracy.

That's pressure.

They are waiting to see whether you miss work long enough to need quick cash. Whether your car gets repaired without full documentation. Whether video disappears. Whether your story gets a little fuzzier each time you retell it.

And if their own insured was plainly going the wrong way but they still deny or drag their feet without a real basis, that starts edging toward bad-faith territory. Insurance companies hate that phrase, but Vermont law does not require you to smile while they play dumb.

In South Burlington, a wrong-way off-ramp crash with no witnesses can still be proven. But only if the physical evidence gets nailed down before the lie hardens into the "official version."