You know the drill: Your teenager missed the school bus this morning, or maybe your neighbor’s car won’t start, and they’re late for work, or Aunt Helen is in town for the weekend and wants to visit some old friends. You hand over the keys to your car and get back to your day, happy in the knowledge that you were able to help a friend or family member.

Then, you get the dreaded phone call. There was black ice, or someone ran the light, or the car in front of them on the freeway just stopped without warning. Now you start to worry, asking yourself, “What happens if someone who’s not on my insurance crashes my car?” Do you know what to say when your panicked borrower is on the line, sitting in the middle of an intersection, peppering you with questions?

Someone struck you here in Baltimore, and they either stopped and you discovered they were uninsured, or they didn’t pull over at all and instead fled the crash scene. If you have uninsured motorist coverage, that’s a good thing in a situation like this. However, if you’re wondering, “Do I need a lawyer for an uninsured motorist claim?” our skilled attorneys will hash that question out (and more) below.

What To Know About Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Maryland

Much like other states, Maryland has mandatory minimum insurance requirements. One of those requirements is uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. This means that your insurer should step in and pay any accident-related expenses you incur if the driver who strikes you either does not have insurance or has inadequate coverage to pay for the damages they caused. UM coverage would also cover you if a hit-and-run driver struck you.

Data published by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) shows some pretty alarming trends, one of which is that 16.2% of all serious auto accident injuries for 2020 occurred here in Baltimore despite the fact that only 9.8% of our state’s population resides within city limits. Considering how other MDOT data from 2022 shows that there were nearly 18,000 traffic accidents reported for our city alone in 2021, that means there are likely many situations in which motorists had to make on-the-spot decisions about what to do at their crash scenes.

Individuals involved in crashes often find themselves stressed and disoriented right after a crash occurs, which can make it challenging to know what steps to take to ensure the best outcome should they ultimately decide to file a claim to recover compensation for their injuries, lost earnings, and other costs they incur due to their involvement in it. Below, we’ll address which information to exchange in a car accident, so you’ll have a resource to reference if you have the misfortune of becoming involved in a crash in Baltimore or elsewhere in Maryland.

Whether you call it a pile-up accident, a chain-reaction crash, or a multi-car collision, these names refer to a similar type of wreck involving multiple vehicles. While sorting out liability might seem fairly intuitive when two vehicles are involved in a crash, determining fault in a pile-up accident may seem far less straightforward.

Given the heavy congestion on Baltimore’s roadways, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that our Belsky & Horowitz, LLC legal team handles our fair share of these complex car accident cases every year. Below, we’ll share why these collisions occur, how liability is sorted out, and how that impacts your rights in hopes that this insight can be helpful to you if you’ve had the misfortune of becoming involved in such a crash.

Baltimore is conveniently positioned within minutes of Washington, D.C. Its roadways are notoriously congested with motorists traveling into the area on business or through the city on a trip up north or down south. With the abundance of traffic that our Maryland city sees, it’s no wonder Baltimore sees its fair share of car accidents.

It can be quite inconvenient if a car accident in Baltimore leaves you with physical damage to your vehicle, rendering it non-operational. However, matters may be worse if you suffer from debilitating car crash injuries. This is especially the case if they’re of the life-altering variety, like a traumatic brain injury, amputation, or spinal cord injury.

Roadway deaths in Maryland have dropped by 48 percent since 2011. At the same time, distracted driving is responsible for 45 percent of all Maryland vehicle crashes. Eighty-five percent of crashes in Washington and Baltimore now involve distracted drivers.

Researchers believe that over 30 percent of roadway wrecks result from driver error. These collisions could be avoided if people focused on driving instead of distractions and kept their emotions in check on the road.

Bodily injury and personal injury are often used interchangeably in everyday conversations, but these two terms carry different meanings within a legal context. So what is the difference between bodily and personal injury?

The attorneys at Belsky & Horowitz, LLC understand how confusing it can be to encounter terms that seem to have similar meanings but are used differently. In this article, we will go into the key differences and similarities between bodily injury and personal injury. If you still have questions after reading the following information or are ready to begin the process of securing compensation for an injury, do not hesitate to contact our law offices to schedule a free consultation with an experienced attorney.

Over the past five years, the state of Maryland has averaged over 4,000 crashes caused by driver aggression each year. This equates to over 2,000 injuries and nearly 50 deaths every year. Each and every one of these injuries and fatalities could have been prevented if a driver had not lost control of their anger and used their vehicle as a weapon.

Tailgating is a serious and violent form of aggressive driving. “Tailgating,” “following too closely,” or “riding someone’s bumper” describes when a driver leaves little room between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them. While the three-second rule is recommended to measure a safe following distance, tailgating usually leaves drivers with less than one second of reaction time.

Police accident reports are required for the majority of car collisions in Maryland. The information contained within these reports can be vital for proving negligence and liability in a personal injury claim. But are car accident reports public record?

In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about car accident reports, including when one needs to be filed and who can later access that information. If you have any additional questions about obtaining information relevant to your personal injury claim, do not hesitate to contact the offices of Belsky & Horowitz, LLC for further guidance.

Individuals involved in car accidents often find themselves inundated with lots of extra work following a collision resulting in property damage and especially injuries. Calls from insurance companies tend to be more frequent as adjusters try to determine if a motorist suffered any injuries in the crash and, if so, how potentially catastrophic (and costly) they are.

It perhaps would seem pretty natural to keep a line of communication between you and an adjuster open as you seek property damage repairs and treatment for any injuries you suffered in the crash. Many Baltimore drivers who become entangled in Maryland crashes do this. However, despite it being possible to settle a car accident claim without a lawyer, there are various reasons why it’s not ideal.