Maine Car Accident Leads for Law Firms

Maine recorded 171 traffic fatalities in 2024. Maine traffic fatalities rose 37% from 2014 to 2024; the state fatality rate rose 28% over the same period (TRIP National July 2025). Fatal and serious crashes in 2024 caused $10.6 billion in societal harm including $2.6 billion in direct economic costs and $8 billion in quality-of-life costs. Nearly 60% of 2023 crash fatalities were unbelted; impaired driving accounted for 34% of 2022 fatalities; speeding accounted for 29%.

Maine averaged roughly 1 to 2 moose-vehicle collisions per day in peak years; 7,062 moose crashes recorded statewide 2003 to 2017, dropping to 1,246 from 2019 to 2023; one in 271 moose crashes results in a human fatality (~0.37%); 66% of moose-vehicle crashes occur between 6 PM and midnight; top counties for moose crashes are Aroostook, Penobscot, and Franklin (Maine DOT Wildlife Safety). Tourism / seasonal patterns: coastal US-1 corridor (York, Knox, Hancock, Lincoln) sees summer congestion; western mountain ski corridors (Sunday River in Newry/Oxford, Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley) drive winter weekend volume; the Maine Turnpike's Portland Area Mainline traffic has grown 3% to 5% per year and now sits at record highs.

Claim volume concentrates in Cumberland (Portland, ~309K, the commercial and medical hub), York (Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunk, Kittery coastal MA-commuter belt, ~217K), Penobscot (Bangor, Brewer northern medical and university hub, ~155K), Kennebec (Augusta, Waterville, ~127K), and Androscoggin (Lewiston-Auburn, ~113K). The dominant commercial corridor is I-95 / Maine Turnpike (109 miles tolled from Kittery NH border through Portland, Lewiston-Auburn, to Augusta; primary north-south freight spine; passes through York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Kennebec; continues as untolled I-95 north to Bangor and Houlton). I-295 is Portland alternate Scarborough-Gardiner; I-195 is the Saco spur to Old Orchard Beach. US-1 coastal Kittery to Calais (tourist-heavy through York, Cumberland, Knox, Hancock, and Washington). US-2 east-west Bangor to Newport and Bethel. Route 9 ("the Airline") Calais to Bangor secondary trucking. Route 26 Portland to Norway, Bethel, and Sunday River.

Maine's 50% bar / 49% rule comparative fault under 14 M.R.S. § 156 is the operationally consequential rule for Maine auto intake. A claimant whose fault is "equal to or greater than" the defendant's recovers nothing; the plaintiff must be 49% at fault or less (more defendant-favorable than 51%-bar majority states). The jury reduces damages "to such extent as the jury thinks just and equitable having regard to the claimant's share in the responsibility for the damage" rather than by a strict percentage. Maine retains traditional joint and several liability; each defendant is liable for the full amount, with special interrogatories used to apportion fault.

Maine auto compensatory damages on private-defendant standard PI cases are uncapped. No statutory cap on general PI noneconomic damages. NO cap on noneconomic damages in living-plaintiff med-mal cases. Wrongful death noneconomic cap raised from $750,000 to $1,000,000 in 2023 (now CPI-indexed for deaths after 2023); WD punitives capped at $250,000 under 18-C M.R.S. § 2-807. Maine Tort Claims Act cap $400,000 per single occurrence under 14 M.R.S. § 8105. Punitive damages standard from Tuttle v. Raymond, 494 A.2d 1353 (Me. 1985): clear-and-convincing express or implied malice; reckless or grossly negligent conduct alone does not qualify.

The 6-year SOL under 14 M.R.S. § 752 governs auto. Wrongful death runs on a 3-year clock under 18-C M.R.S. § 2-807 (raised from 2 in 2023). Maine Tort Claims Act notice 365 days under 14 M.R.S. § 8107 (extended from 180 in 2019); 2-year SOL on the claim itself.