Fatal car crashes in Baltimore, MD: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 234 fatal crashes inside Baltimore, in which 245 people died. The roads with the most were US-1 (street name not recorded) with 12 fatal crashes, I-95 with 11 and I-83 with 8.

Filing deadline, fault rule, insurance and the court for a crash in Baltimore: Baltimore, MD injury guide.

Every traffic death within 30 days of a crash on a public road is counted in NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, along with details of the crash itself. Its 2023 file lists 40 fatal crashes in Baltimore with 41 deaths. All 40 carry the county code for Baltimore (City), the city's own county-level unit, so crashes in Baltimore County are tallied separately and are not in these numbers. Every one of the 40 was on a road classified as urban, and since no crash enters the file without a death, 41 deaths in 40 crashes means exactly one crash killed two people.

The most striking feature of the record is how many victims were outside a vehicle. Twenty-four of the 40 crashes, 60 percent, included at least one person who was not riding in a motor vehicle, such as a pedestrian, and 27 such people were involved. A pedestrian was the first person or object struck in 19 crashes, a cyclist in 1, and in 1 more a person on a personal conveyance, the federal term for devices such as wheelchairs and skateboards.

Collisions between vehicles were the minority. Twelve crashes began when two vehicles in traffic collided: 7 angle collisions, where the vehicles' paths cross, 3 rear-end crashes and 2 head-on crashes. Of the rest, 5 began with a vehicle striking a curb and 1 each with a parked vehicle and a post or pole. By location, 18 crashes were away from any junction, 7 were inside an intersection and 10 were intersection-related, while 3 were tied to driveways, 1 occurred on a ramp and 1 was coded as a through roadway.

The crashes were spread across the clock and the week. Fourteen, 35 percent, took place from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., the other 26 during the rest of the day. Darkness covered 21 crashes: 18 on lighted streets, 2 on unlit roads and 1 with lighting unknown, while 17 were in daylight, 1 was at dawn and 1 had its light condition reported as unknown. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday had 8 crashes each. Weather was coded clear 24 times, cloudy 9 times and rain 4 times, with 2 not reported and 1 in fog, smog or smoke.

FARS records the road for each crash in the form Maryland reported it, often with a route number or other code in front of the street name; those codes are dropped below where a street name follows. No road appears more than twice in the 2023 Baltimore records. Fifteen of the 40 crashes fall on the 12 road names this summary lists, and no road outside the list had more than one, so the other 25 were spread across different roads.

By road class, 21 crashes, just over half, were on principal arterials other than freeways, 7 on minor arterials, 5 on major collectors, 3 on interstates, 2 on local streets and 1 on a minor collector, with 1 not reported. Major surface streets mix through traffic with people crossing on foot, which may help explain the pedestrian share, though this summary cannot tie any one pedestrian crash to a road class. Because two is the highest count for any road, the names below mark where these deaths occurred; they do not rank streets by danger.

• Reisterstown Road (SR-140): 2 fatal crashes.
• North Avenue (US-1): 2 fatal crashes.
• The Alameda: 2 fatal crashes.
• I-95, recorded at the Fort McHenry Tunnel: 1 fatal crash.
• Liberty Heights Avenue (SR-26) and Pennington Avenue (SR-173): 1 fatal crash each.
• East Madison Street, South Monroe Street, Roland Avenue, Moravia Road and 8th Street: 1 fatal crash each.
• Caton Avenue Alley, as recorded: 1 fatal crash.

FARS describes what happened in each crash, not why, so explanations remain possibilities to test against the evidence. Pedestrian deaths are commonly associated with darkness, speed and crossings away from intersections, and any of these may play a part in Baltimore. The figures used here include no alcohol or drug results and do not show where each pedestrian was crossing or whether a signal was present, so they cannot settle the cause of any single crash.

For a person on foot, Maryland's fault rule raises the stakes. Under contributory negligence, you can be barred from any recovery if the defense proves you were even 1 percent at fault. That means a driver's insurer may look closely at whether a pedestrian crossed outside a crosswalk, against a signal, or while distracted, because any share of blame, however small, can defeat the whole claim rather than simply reduce it.

None of this makes a pedestrian claim hopeless, but it changes the work. Evidence about the driver's conduct, such as speed, distraction or a failure to yield, and evidence that the pedestrian acted with care both matter from the first day. Video from nearby homes and businesses, witness names and the police report can each make a difference, and much of that evidence disappears if no one asks for it to be kept.

Suppose you were crossing a Baltimore street in the evening, inside a marked crosswalk, when a driver turning right struck you. You fractured your pelvis and wrist, were hospitalized for a week and could not work for four months. Medical bills came to $90,000 and lost income to $25,000, and your damages as a whole, pain and suffering included, are assumed to total $250,000. None of these people or numbers is real; the example is hypothetical.

The driver's insurer reviews the case and argues that you started across after the walk signal had changed. Under Maryland's contributory negligence rule, if a jury agreed that you were even slightly at fault, you could be barred from recovering anything, not just a reduced amount. In a state with a 51 percent bar, a finding of 10 percent fault would instead reduce the $250,000 claim to $225,000. That gap is why Maryland pedestrian claims often turn on timing evidence: signal timing records, video and witness accounts of when you stepped off the curb.

Insurance limits come next. If the driver carried Maryland's minimum liability coverage of $30,000 per person, that is the most the policy would pay you even if fault were clear. If you own a car, the uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in that policy may also apply to you as a pedestrian, depending on its terms. And if the vehicle had belonged to the city and been driven by a city employee, written notice of the claim within one year of the injury would be required under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-304(b), well before the general three-year deadline.

With people outside vehicles involved in 24 of Baltimore's 40 fatal crashes in 2023, and Maryland's strict fault rule in place, the early goal is to document exactly what everyone was doing at the moment of impact. The list works for anyone involved, behind the wheel, in a passenger seat, on a bike or on foot, and most of it can be done in the first few days.

• Call 911, get medical help, and make sure you leave with the report number or the officer's name.
• If you were on foot, note where you crossed, the signal or walk sign you saw and what you were wearing, and write it down while it is fresh.
• Photograph the crossing, signals, street lights, the vehicle and any marks on the road, and note homes and businesses with cameras.
• Ask in writing that video be kept, and collect names and phone numbers of witnesses, including drivers who stopped.
• Avoid saying or posting anything about your own share of blame; under contributory negligence, a small admission can end a claim.
• Even if you were walking, pull out your own auto policy's declarations page and see what medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage it lists.
• If a city vehicle or employee may be involved, note the one-year written notice requirement for claims against a local government.
• Track the three-year deadline as a final limit, not a target.

Maryland handles injury claims through fault: the at-fault driver's liability insurer pays, rather than each injured person's own insurer, the model used by Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and other no-fault states. Maryland's minimum liability coverage is $30,000 for one person's injuries, $60,000 for all injuries in an accident and $15,000 for property damage. A serious pedestrian injury can easily exceed $30,000, so the injured person's own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, medical payments coverage and health insurance often matter.

Maryland is one of a handful of places, along with Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia, that still apply contributory negligence. Most states instead apply some version of comparative negligence, trimming an award in proportion to the injured person's fault rather than wiping it out. Maryland's highest court kept this common-law rule in Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia (2013), leaving any change to the legislature, so a claim in Baltimore generally fails if the defense proves the injured person was even 1 percent at fault.

Under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101, the usual window for an injury lawsuit is three years, a year more than the two years Florida has allowed for most negligence claims since 2023. Claims against a local government such as Baltimore City or a county carry an earlier step: written notice within one year of the injury under § 5-304(b). Claims against the State, and claims over a death, follow their own rules. Injury lawsuits are generally filed in Circuit Court.

A Baltimore crash claim, especially one involving a pedestrian, often depends on showing that the injured person was not at fault at all, because Maryland's contributory negligence rule leaves little room for shared blame. The one-year notice requirement for claims against the city and the $30,000 minimum policy limit add urgency to the first months. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency; their payment depends on the outcome and comes from the recovery.

Because Ask Legal Matters is a lead-generation service, not a law firm, its free claim-review request service passes requests along rather than giving legal advice. An attorney would first have to evaluate the facts; until then, nobody can say if there is a claim or what it might bring. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Maryland. If a crash in Baltimore left you or a relative injured, you can request a free claim review.

• Baltimore, Maryland: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• US Cities With the Most Fatal Car Accidents in 2023 (NHTSA Data)
• Fatal car crashes in Lakewood, CO: deadliest roads, 2020-2024
• Fatal crashes in Miami Gardens, FL: deadliest roads, 2020-2024
• Bus Accident Claim: City, School and Charter Buses Differ
• Hit by a Drunk Driver: Why the Claim Is Different, and Who Pays
• Child Injured in a Car Accident: How the Claim Works

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.