ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · ACTON, MA · 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/acton/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
269 CRASHES IN
ACTON, MA
2023
In 2023, Acton recorded 269 total crashes, a 3.2% decrease from the 278 crashes reported in 2022. While total crashes and fatalities (1 in 2023 vs. 2 in 2022) declined, the number of people injured rose by 18.1%, from 72 in 2022 to 85 in 2023. A notable shift in contributing factors was a 60% increase in the count of crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely,' which grew from 20 incidents to 32.
269
▼ -3.2%was 278
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -50.0%was 2
Persons Killed
85
▲ 18.1%was 72
Persons Injured
8
▲ 33.3%was 6
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 4 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total traffic crashes in Acton saw a slight year-over-year decline, falling by 3.2% from 278 in 2022 to 269 in 2023. Despite this decrease in total incidents, the number of people injured in these crashes increased by 18.1%, rising from 72 to 85. Fatalities were halved, with one person killed in 2023 compared to two in the prior year.
8
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▲ 33.3% vs prior (6)
Hit-and-run incidents in Acton showed an upward trend year-over-year. The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 6 in 2022 to 8 in 2023, representing a 33.3% increase in the count of such incidents. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of all crashes, rose from 2.2% in 2022 to 3.0% in 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
83
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between 2022 and 2023. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (52 incidents) in 2022 to Wednesday (46 incidents) in 2023. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions shifted from the 6 p.m. hour in 2022, which saw 25 crashes, to the 3 p.m. hour in 2023, which saw 29 crashes.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The severity of crashes showed mixed changes year-over-year. The number of fatal crashes decreased from 2 in 2022 to 1 in 2023, lowering the fatal crash share from 0.7% to 0.4% of all incidents. The total number of injury-related crashes increased from 62 to 65, raising the proportion of crashes involving an injury from 22.3% in 2022 to 24.2% in 2023.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The ranking of top contributing factors shifted between the two periods. In 2023, 'No improper driving' became the most cited factor with 60 crashes, a 33.3% increase in count from 45 in 2022. 'Inattention,' the top factor in 2022, saw its count decrease by 17.2% from 58 to 48 incidents, making it the second-leading factor in 2023. Notably, crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' increased by 60%, from 20 to 32 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes in 2023 occurred more frequently in clear conditions compared to 2022. The proportion of crashes happening in daylight increased from 68.0% in 2022 to 78.1% in 2023. Similarly, incidents on dry road surfaces rose from 68.3% to 74.3% of all crashes. Consequently, the share of crashes on adverse road surfaces like wet, snow, or ice decreased from 30.9% (86 crashes) in 2022 to 24.9% (67 crashes) in 2023.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford being the most frequent in both years. However, their order shifted; Honda was the second most common make in 2022 with 73 vehicles but dropped to third in 2023 with 52 vehicles. Analysis of persons involved shows a notable demographic shift, with the number of individuals aged 0-15 more than doubling from 32 in 2022 to 71 in 2023. Conversely, involvement for the 16-20 age group decreased from 80 to 65 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (478 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
33 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (560 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The distribution of crashes across speed zones changed between 2022 and 2023. There was a notable decrease in crashes within 30 mph zones, from 84 incidents in 2022 to 59 in 2023. In contrast, crashes in 35 mph zones increased from 24 to 37. The single fatal crash in 2023 occurred in a 35 mph zone, whereas the two fatal crashes in 2022 both occurred in a 40 mph zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 37 (2.703%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location
Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Source
All crash data in this report is sourced from Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), accessed programmatically via the Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.
Data Retrieval
- Access method: Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SoQL queries)
- Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
- Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
- Date filter applied: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: ACTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 269
- Total persons involved: 611
- Total vehicles involved: 478
Analytical Methodology
- Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
- Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
- Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
- Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
- Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
- Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
- AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.
Limitations & Disclaimers
- Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
- Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
- Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
- AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
- Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.
Non-Affiliation Disclosure
This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.
Data License
The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.
Corrections & Feedback
If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.
Suggested Citation
ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "ACTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/acton/2023-annual-report
About the Publisher
ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.
Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved