Maryland Auto Accident Attorneys

Causes of Maryland Auto Accidents

The most common cause of auto accidents in Maryland is human error -- inattention and bad choices behind the wheel. Studies consistently show that well over 90% of all car crashes could have been avoided if the people involved had taken a little more care. In fact, a 2006 joint study by Virginia Tech and the Auto Club concluded that driver inattention was the leading factor in most crashes and near-misses they studied. The top driver distractions the study found included eating, using a mobile phone or other device, "rubbernecking," looking for something inside the vehicle, personal grooming and even reading while driving. The scientists found that looking away from the road for more than two seconds doubled drivers' chances of an accident. Driving while sleepy increased the risk by four to six times.

Despite decades of public education efforts, driving under the influence of alcohol also remains a common cause of accidents. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that at least one driver was legally drunk (with a BAC of 0.08 or higher) in 32% of fatal accidents in 2007. On average, this is one alcohol-impaired traffic death every 40 minutes in the United States -- and 33.4% of those killed are people other than the drunk driver. Those numbers are even higher after 9 p.m. and for younger drivers. Driving drunk is also associated with a greater risk of unsafe behaviors like speeding, driving without a valid license and failing to use a seatbelt.

Accidents caused by defects in a vehicle are less common, but they do happen. Drivers of Ford vehicles may remember the Bridgestone/Firestone tire recall of 2000, in which 3.5 million tires were recalled due to their unusually high rate of tire tread separation and blowouts. This could cause serious rollover accidents, especially when the tires failed at high speed, leading to an estimated 250 deaths and 3,000 serious injuries. Parents of small children may remember the more recent recalls of child safety car seats that exposed their tiny occupants to serious injuries. Other cars and auto parts have been recalled because of seatbelt failure, defective airbags, door latch problems and incorrect placement of fuel tanks, which can lead to an explosion after a rear-end accident.

Roadway defects are another small but serious cause of Maryland car accidents. Roads can be defective and unsafe by design, or shoddy maintenance might lead to roadway defects. For example, a road whose curve obscures drivers' view of oncoming traffic and an intersection without a traffic signal may both be considered defective by design. Defective road maintenance could mean unsafe cracks in the road, failure to salt the road after a snow storm or even failure to trim trees that obscure the view of important road signs. In either case, the organization potentially at fault is the government agency -- local, state or federal -- responsible for building and maintaining the road.

Responsibility matters a great deal after a serious car accident, because the person who's at fault -- or his or her insurance company -- is legally responsible for any costs and damages that result. Unfortunately, because auto accidents can be very expensive, many insurance companies deny their liability or even try to blame victims of serious accidents for their own injuries in order to get out of paying. If you've been hurt in a serious Maryland auto accident caused by someone else's carelessness, Meng & Alpert is ready to fight for your rights. In a Maryland car accident lawsuit, you could win compensation for all of your injuries -- physical, financial and emotional.

To learn more about your legal options at a free consultation, please contact Meng & Alpert online as soon as possible or call us toll-free at 1-866-444-6363.

Meng & Alpert, LLC
14507 Main Street
P.O. Box 549
Upper Marlboro, MD 20773
1-866-444-6363
1-301-627-1600
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From our offices in Maryland, our Bethesda car accident lawyers handle cases throughout the entire state of Maryland, including Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, including the counties of Montgomery County, Howard County, Prince George’s County, Anne Arundel County and Frederick County, as well as the cities of Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Columbia, Ellicott City, Annapolis, Glen Burnie, Bowie, College Park, Greenbelt, Oxon Hill.  also represent individuals injured in car accidents in metropolitan Washington D.C.