Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog

USA Today has an article on how states are increasingly requiring rear seat passengers to wear seat belts. This is the classic "brother's keeper" v. individual rights issue. I fall into the former category on this subject as most Maryland accident lawyers do because they have seen what a projectile a person can become when launched from a back seat because they were not wearing their rear safety belt.

But what I found interesting about the USA today graph is the extent to which states don't fall in line on this issue as you think they would. When I think of the West with a capital "W" I think of rugged individualism and a desire for self determinism on these kinds of things. But the opposite is true: the wild west seems to almost uniformly accept the idea that rear seat belts should be law. Why is this? I have no idea.

What I do know is that Maryland law needs to be changed to require all rear seat passengers to wear seat belts. At the risk of having every naysayer scream "slippery slope," please remember we are requiring it for front seat passengers, we require helmets on motorcycles, and this law would make just as much sense.

• Walter Olson disagrees (I'm assuming, based on the title)
• Not many backseat passengers are wearing seat belts
• Maryland Seat Belt Law

I have never been the victim of a hit-and-run accident. But I have represented numerous clients who have been injured as the result of a hit-and-run accident. It is particularly frustrating for injury victims involved in hit-and-run accidents because, absent physical evidence or eyewitness, the hit-and-run driver gets off and never faces even a modicum of justice.

Fortunately, in Maryland, there is a mechanism of recovery for accidents that are caused by drivers who leave the scene of an accident. Uninsured motorist insurance - which is available for all insurance policies written in Maryland - also covers claims made for victims involved in accidents where negligent or drunk drivers leave the scene of the accident. In other words, Maryland law essentially finds that a hit-and-run driver whose identity is never uncovered is uninsured for the purposes of making a claim.

From the perspective of a car accident lawyer, hit-and-run uninsured motorist claims hinge on the credibility of the injured witness. Rarely, are there witnesses to report what happened other than the injury victim on the victim's passengers. If the injury victim is believable, the Plaintiff is generally going to win the case. If the victim lacks credibility or is untruthful on the stand, it is almost impossible to win the case.

Insurance companies rarely pay the true value of a property damage or total loss claim after a car accident. In property damage cases, short of a total loss, no matter how well your car is fixed after an accident, it will never be the same and that will be, in varying degrees, reflected in the future value of your vehicle. In total loss car accident cases, you can rarely buy a car with which you enjoy and have the same level of confidence as the vehicle that was destroyed.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. Some states do not even allow for claims for diminished value. In those that do, hiring a lawyer and paying an expert to come to trial (required in some cases) does not make it worth the victim's money, time or effort.