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Freeway entrance examined in wrong-way crash

News 11 is looking at whether the design of the Cygnet freeway entrance is too confusing to drivers.
Nicholette Pasquinelly was looking for US-25 North when she passed a sign that said turn right. She did that at the next opening and ended up driving the wrong way on the South I-75 off-ramp.
Marvin Fintel drove his pickup truck south in the northbound lanes of I-75 near Cygnet on Monday, March 16, killing himself and critically injuring two others.

By Mika Highsmith - bio | email

WOOD COUNTY (WTOL) - There are new details on a deadly wrong-way crash in Wood County.

The Ohio Highway Patrol says 78-year old Marvin Fintel, who caused the accident, had vision problems and was driving with an expired license.

Fintel drove his pickup truck south in the northbound lanes of I-75 near Cygnet on Monday, March 16, killing himself and critically injuring two others.

Tonight, a Sylvania woman, who took a similar path, wants to make sure it never happens again.

Nicholette Pasquinelly walks along the I-75 off-ramp. She can see how Fintel may have been confused, driving the wrong way along this ramp and ultimately killing himself. Hi hit a car head-on critically injuring Susan and Ernest Wenger of Baldwin, Michigan.

She knows because she did it herself less than two weeks ago about a quarter-mile away. "I said, 'Boy, this is a disaster waiting to happen," Pasquinelly told News 11. She adds, "It was during the day also when I ended up on the wrong road going against traffic."

Pasquinelly was looking for US-25 North when she passed a sign that said turn right. She did that at the next opening and ended up driving the wrong way on the South I-75 off-ramp. "I got down to the bottom and you can see the wrong way signs. I just backed up."

Lucky for her, the ramp was clear. "If someone was coming off that ramp at 60 miles an hour and didn't have the ability to stop, it could have very well been an accident," said Pasquinelly.

She was spared, but as she thinks about what could have happened, Pasquinelly made it her duty to make sure the entire interchange is corrected. "It's very deceiving," she said.

To begin with, she wants the sign removed.

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