An attorney friend, Mike Schafer, has an interesting blog post at his The Kentucky Accident Attorney blog about carbon bicycle fork failure. 

Apparently, carbon forks can become stressed by hitting potholes, running into a curb or normal wear and tear, which can lead to fork failure where the fork can unexpectedly break during a ride.  Given the state of many of the roads around Washington especially here in King County, that's scary.  You can imagine the type of crash which would result from a broken fork.

Check out Mike's article.  You may also want to check or have a professional check your carbon bicycle fork for signs of stress from time to time.