Quick answer: No. When you get a Maryland traffic ticket or are convicted of one, the MVA does not call, email, or notify your insurance company. It works the other way around: your insurer orders your motor vehicle record itself, usually at renewal, and reprices you if a new conviction is there. The one thing Read More
Accused of a Hit-and-Run You Didn’t Know Happened in Maryland
Maryland’s duty to remain at the scene of an accident is triggered by the driver’s knowledge that an accident occurred. If you genuinely did not realize you hit another vehicle or object — a low-speed contact in a parking lot, a bump you did not feel, contact you had no reason to notice — then Read More
How Insurance Companies Treat Traffic Convictions in Maryland
Quick answer: A Maryland traffic conviction reaches your insurance separately from the MVA point system. Carriers pull your motor vehicle record at renewal, and again at intervals, then reprice using their own lookback window — commonly about 3 years for a speeding conviction and 5 years or more for a DUI. What limits the damage Read More
What Happens After a Hit-and-Run Charge in Maryland
Quick answer: A Maryland hit-and-run charge can trigger three separate proceedings at once: the criminal case, an MVA action against your license, and a possible civil lawsuit from the other party. Where the criminal case is heard depends on the tier — property-damage and bodily-injury hit-and-run are misdemeanors handled in District Court, while serious-injury and Read More
Insurance Lapse and License Suspension in Maryland: How a Gap in Coverage Costs You Your License
Quick answer: When your car insurance lapses in Maryland, the MVA suspends your registration automatically as of the date of the lapse and charges an uninsured-motorist penalty fee — $200 for a lapse of 1 to 30 days, then $7 for every additional day, capped at $3,500 per violation in any 12-month period. You have Read More
Maryland Hit-and-Run Laws: Property Damage vs. Injury
Quick answer: A Maryland hit-and-run runs from a misdemeanor to a serious felony depending on what the accident caused. Leaving a property-damage-only crash (Transp. § 20-103) is a misdemeanor — up to 60 days and a $500 fine. Leaving a crash that hurt someone (§ 20-102) is also a misdemeanor if the injury is not Read More
Driving Without Insurance in Maryland: Penalties on Two Separate Tracks
Quick answer: Driving without insurance in Maryland is not one charge but two, and they are very different. Under Transp. § 17-104(b) the registered owner who let the security lapse faces a $290 payable citation carrying 0 points — no proof of knowledge required. Under § 17-107 a driver who knew or had reason to Read More
Hit and Run: Leaving The Accident Scene In Maryland
Quick answer: The strongest Maryland hit-and-run defenses attack one of two things: whether you knew, or reasonably should have known, that an accident happened, and whether the State can actually prove you were the driver. If you genuinely did not realize you made contact, left a proper note on an unattended car, or left because Read More