Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog

I have been trying for a while to find the time to summarize MAMSI v. Wu, a Maryland Court of Appeals opinion holding that health insurance companies may make benefits secondary to PIP benefits available for medical bills suffered in a car accident.

You can read the full opinion here.

The Baltimore Sun reports today 25% of teenagers told researchers that they text while driving a car, and almost half say they've been in cars with someone who sent text messages while driving an automobile.

Cell phones cause enough accidents even without adding in the texting while driving.

Texting while driving is against the law in Maryland as of October 1st. But I wonder if a single texting while driving charge has been brought against a single driver. How can you prove texting versus making a phone call or even looking on the Internet which, ostensibly, is not a violation of the statute.

What is the answer? I really don't have any idea. But someone need to think of something.

There are two fundamental things we need to do to reduce auto accident injuries. First, we have to decrease the number of accidents. Driver inattention is a tough problem to fix, but real gains can be made with drunk drivers and drivers using their cell phones or text messaging.

The second is reducing the severity of injuries after an accident occurs. This means safe cars, trucks and motorcycles that can withstand an impact and occupants wearing seat belts. With respect to the latter, John Day's Day on Torts reports that seat belt use in 2009 stood at 84 percent, a gain from 83 percent use in 2008.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner released regulations permitting mileage verification for pay-as-you-drive - car insurance by the mile. Apparently, the goal of paying as you go would be to get people thinking about how many miles they are putting on their cars which will lead them to drive less.

I'm not sure who is writing these policies. Spokesmen for State Farm, Allstate and Progressive said they are considering, but have not decided, the issue of whether to offer this type of insurance coverage in California.

As an auto accident lawyer, I'm a little concerned about the coverage issues that would ensue. For example, in Texas, you can buy insurance in bundles of miles driven. In other words, your policy says, "You are covered for 3,000 miles of driving."

But this requires drivers to keep score. People keep score poorly. Then, their insurance lapses. The result is a lot of uninsured motorist on the road.

We already have to many uninsured drivers in Maryland. So unless there is a plan to make sure coverage is maintained, this well intentioned plan could cause more harm than good.