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Sometimes, yes. Maryland’s strict contributory negligence rule bars recovery when a cyclist’s own carelessness helps cause a crash, but a traffic violation that played no part in the collision should not automatically end your claim. The gap between those two outcomes is where bicycle cases are won or lost, and insurers count on riders not knowing the difference. Our Maryland bicycle accident attorney team at McGowan & Cecil, LLC has fought insurance companies for injured riders for over two decades, and we know how to challenge a fault argument built on a technicality.
Maryland’s Contributory Negligence Rule Is All or Nothing
Maryland is one of the few remaining jurisdictions that follow pure contributory negligence. In 2013, the state’s highest court reaffirmed the doctrine in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia. In that case, a jury found the defendant negligent and found that its negligence caused the plaintiff’s injuries, yet the plaintiff recovered nothing because the jury also found that his own negligence contributed to what happened.
Under this rule, an injured person whose failure to use ordinary care proximately contributes to a crash is barred from all recovery, however slight their share of the blame and however careless the driver was. There is no splitting of fault and no reduced award in Maryland. Insurance companies know this, which is why adjusters comb through every Maryland bicycle claim searching for any rule of the road the rider may have broken.
A Traffic Violation Alone Does Not Decide Your Claim
The contributory negligence defense has two parts, and insurers prefer to talk about only one of them. First, the rider must have failed to use ordinary care for their own safety. Second, that failure must have proximately contributed to the collision. A violation that had nothing to do with how the crash actually happened does not satisfy the second requirement.
Picture a rider struck from behind in broad daylight while riding lawfully in a marked bike lane. If the insurer points to an unrelated infraction from earlier in the ride, that infraction did not bring about the collision. Causation is the battleground in these cases. Proving what actually caused the crash, through scene photographs, witness accounts, vehicle damage, and professional reconstruction when needed, is how a claim survives this defense.
Maryland’s Bicycle Laws Have Built-In Exceptions
Under Maryland law, a person riding a bicycle in a public bicycle area generally has the same rights and the same duties as the driver of a vehicle. That principle cuts both ways. It secures a rider’s lawful place on the road, and it hands insurers a long list of duties they can accuse a rider of breaking.
The rule adjusters often cite requires a cyclist moving slower than traffic to ride as near to the right side of the roadway as is practicable and safe. What they often leave out is that the statute excuses a rider from hugging the curb in six situations:
- Making or attempting a left turn
- Riding on a one-way street
- Passing a stopped or slower moving vehicle
- Avoiding pedestrians or road hazards
- Riding where the right lane is a right turn only lane
- Using a lane too narrow for a bicycle and another vehicle to travel safely side by side
When one of these exceptions applies, riding away from the curb is not a violation at all. Bike lanes carry their own rules. Where a bike lane paved to a smooth surface exists, a rider generally must use it, but Maryland law permits leaving the lane to pass safely, to prepare for a left turn, to avoid debris or another hazardous condition, or to get around markings that break the lane’s continuity, so long as the move is made with reasonable safety and an appropriate signal.
Drivers Owe Cyclists Specific Duties
Fault rarely runs in only one direction. Maryland law requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a person riding a bicycle. A driver overtaking a rider generally must pass at a distance of at least three feet, and a driver about to enter or cross a designated bike lane or shoulder must yield the right of way to a rider lawfully using it.
Evidence that the driver violated one of these duties reframes the entire claim. Instead of a story about what the rider did wrong, the case becomes a record of what the driver failed to do. A thorough investigation examines both sides of the roadway, not just the cyclist’s conduct, and that balance is often what keeps a claim alive.
How to Protect Your Claim From a Fault Argument
Because a fault finding in Maryland can erase your entire recovery, what you do in the hours and weeks after a crash carries real weight. These steps protect the record while the facts are still fresh:
- Do not admit fault or speculate about the crash at the scene, even casually
- Get medical care immediately and follow through with treatment
- Preserve photographs, damaged equipment, helmet camera footage, and witness contact information
- Talk to a lawyer before giving any recorded statement to an insurance company
Each of these steps matters because the insurer’s search for rider fault begins almost immediately. Severe crashes can leave a rider with a catastrophic injury and a lifetime of costs, which makes the record you build now even more important. Maryland generally allows three years from the date a claim accrues to file a civil action, though a different period can apply in some circumstances. Defeating a contributory negligence defense takes preparation, and starting early is an advantage.
Put McGowan & Cecil, LLC on Your Side Today
We have represented injured Marylanders for more than 20 years, and we assign at least one attorney and one paralegal to every case. If an insurer is using a traffic law to deny your bicycle accident claim, do not accept that answer as final. Contact McGowan & Cecil, LLC today for a free consultation. You pay no attorney fees unless we recover for you. Se Habla Español.