The Law Of Rear-End Automobile Accidents In Maryland

Image source: https://carichronicles.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/the-law-of-the-garbage-truck-the-eight-commitments.jpg

There is a myth about automobile accidents that result from rear-end collisions. Sometime's you'll hear people say that in an automobile accident that's a rear-end collision, the driver that's behind the other driver - the driver that's colliding in from behind - is always responsible for that car accident. This is not the law. It's a common myth about what the law of automobile accidents is.

I have written this article because I wanted to make it clear just what the law is in around who is responsible for a rear end automobile accident. When people know the law, the job of an automobile accident attorney is a lot easier.

The Maryland Court of Appeals has spoken about this issue. The Maryland Court of Appeals is like Maryland's Supreme Court. It's the highest court in the state. What the Maryland Court of Appeals says very clearly is that they "specifically hold that the mere happening of a rear-end collision of two motor vehicles, without evidence of the circumstances under which it happened, is not proof of negligence of either driver."

What that means is, without more facts, if all you know is that there's a rear-end collision, that doesn't mean the driver in the back is to blame for it. That doesn't mean that the driver in the front is to blame for it. In each and every time when there's a rear-end collision, it depends on what happened to cause that collision to figure out which driver is to blame.

The Court of Appeals goes on to say that "the driver of the front car must exercise ordinary care not to stop or slow up without giving the driver of the rear car adequate warning of his intention to do so." So, what the driver of the front car has to do is make sure that somebody driving behind him isn't going to plow into him. He's got to give adequate notice that he's slowing down or he's stopping by putting on his brakes and letting the brake lights shine, for example.

The Court says that "the driver of the rear car must exercise ordinary care to avoid colliding with the front car." So, the driver that's driving behind has to be attentive for brake lights and can't be going too fast, or not paying attention.

When you slow down and when you stop, your brake lights go on automatically. It may be that most of the time when there's a rear-end collision the fault lies with the driver in the back because the driver in front has brake lights. But that doesn't mean that it's always the case.

If you've been in a rear-end collision, you should talk to a car accident lawyer and tell the lawyer about all of the facts that went into the collision; all of the specific little things that happened right before the accident. That's the best way to figure out whether it's your fault or the other driver's fault; whether you're the driver to blame or the other driver is.