Maryland Car Accident Leads for Law Firms

Maryland recorded 572 to 579 traffic fatalities in 2024 (MDOT and TRIP reporting), up 31% over the prior decade. The Maryland fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled climbed from 0.78 in 2014 to 1.02 in 2024. Pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities account for roughly 25 to 31% of total traffic deaths, with the pedestrian share continuing to grow. Speed is now gaining ground on impaired driving as the leading primary factor in fatal crashes. Maryland's Strategic Highway Safety Plan and the Vision Zero Maryland initiative are tracking this trend through ACRS (Automated Crash Reporting System) and the Maryland State Police Fatal Crash Dashboard.

Claim volume concentrates in the Baltimore metropolitan area and the Washington DC suburban corridor. Baltimore City and Baltimore County lead, followed by Montgomery (Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown), Prince George's (Hyattsville, Bowie, Largo, Greenbelt, College Park), Anne Arundel (Annapolis, Glen Burnie, Severna Park), Howard (Columbia, Ellicott City), Frederick, Harford (Bel Air, Aberdeen), Charles (Waldorf, La Plata), Carroll (Westminster), Washington (Hagerstown), Wicomico (Salisbury), and Allegany (Cumberland). The I-95, I-83, I-70, I-270, I-695 (Baltimore Beltway), I-495 (Capital Beltway), I-97, US-50, and US-29 corridors carry outsized shares of the commercial-vehicle and catastrophic-injury caseload.

Maryland's pure contributory negligence rule is the single most operationally consequential rule for Maryland auto intake.Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (Md. 2013) reaffirmed the doctrine and explicitly declined to abrogate it, noting the General Assembly had repeatedly considered and rejected proposals to adopt comparative fault. Maryland is one of only four US jurisdictions (with North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, and the District of Columbia) that maintain contributory negligence. Practically, any plaintiff fault, even 1%, completely bars recovery. That makes pre-delivery fault screening (independent witness availability, surveillance preservation, traffic-control evidence, telematics) substantially more valuable in Maryland than in any other fault regime.

Maryland Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-108 imposes a noneconomic damages cap that increases each October 1 by $15,000. For PI claims accruing on or after October 1, 2025 the cap is approximately $965,000 (Maryland Department of Legislative Services). Medical malpractice has a separate cap (~$905,000 for 2025). Wrongful death actions with 2 or more beneficiaries get 150% of the cap. Economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, loss of earning capacity) are uncapped. Maryland Tort Claims Act caps state liability at $400,000 per person, $800,000 per incident; the Local Government Tort Claims Act caps liability against counties and municipalities at $400,000 per person, $800,000 per claim.

Minimum auto liability is 30/60/15 with mandatory uninsured / underinsured motorist coverage at the same 30/60 limits unless waived in writing. Maryland is also a PIP state with mandatory $2,500 PIP coverage (waivable in writing by the named insured). Verification is electronic through the MVA. The mandatory UM/UIM stack provides meaningful no-recovery protection on uninsured-driver and hit-and-run files.