Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

12 CRASHES IN
ACTON, MA
MAY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2021

In May 2022, Acton experienced 12 total crashes, a significant decrease of 47.83% compared to the 23 crashes recorded in May 2021. This period also saw a notable reduction in total injuries, falling from 7 in the prior year to 1 in the current year.

12

-47.8%was 23

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

1

-85.7%was 7

Persons Injured

0

Fatal Crash Events

Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, the trend indicates a substantial decrease in crash activity year-over-year. Total crashes fell by 47.83%, from 23 in May 2021 to 12 in May 2022. Concurrently, total injuries decreased by 85.71%, from 7 to 1 during the same period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Injured

Prior: 7-85.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · 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 year-over-year; the peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday with 10 crashes in May 2021 to Thursday with 3 crashes in May 2022. The peak hour also shifted from 3 PM with 3 crashes in May 2021 to 9 AM, also with 3 crashes, in May 2022. The distribution of crashes across days of the week became more even in May 2022, contrasting with the prior year's concentration on Tuesdays.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both May 2021 and May 2022. However, there was a substantial decrease in injury crashes, with 1 injury recorded in May 2022 compared to 7 in May 2021. The proportion of crashes resulting in injury decreased from 30.4% of total crashes in May 2021 to 8.3% in May 2022, and serious injuries were entirely absent in the current period after one was reported previously.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes8.3%
-75.0%prior 4
No Injury11no injury crashes91.7%
-31.3%prior 16

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among common contributing factors, 'Inattention' decreased from 5 crashes in May 2021 to 3 crashes in May 2022. 'Followed too closely' also saw a reduction, from 3 crashes to 2 crashes year-over-year. 'No improper driving' decreased from 3 crashes in May 2021 to 1 crash in May 2022, while 'Failed to yield right of way' and 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' remained consistent at 2 and 1 crash, respectively.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention3 (25%)-40.0%prior 5
Failed to yield right of way2 (16.7%)
Followed too closely2 (16.7%)
Other improper action1 (8.3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (8.3%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (8.3%)
No improper driving1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The proportion of crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 82.6% (19 of 23 crashes) in May 2021 to 91.7% (11 of 12 crashes) in May 2022. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces rose from 87% (20 of 23 crashes) to 91.7% (11 of 12 crashes) year-over-year. Daylight crashes also increased proportionally, accounting for 91.7% of incidents in May 2022 compared to 87% in May 2021.

Weather

Clear9 (75.0%)
-25.0%prior 12
Clear/Clear1 (8.3%)
-85.7%prior 7
Clear/Cloudy1 (8.3%)
Cloudy1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight11 (91.7%)
-45.0%prior 20
Dark - lighted roadway1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry11 (91.7%)
-45.0%prior 20
Wet1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (24 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA7 (29.2%)
0.0%prior 7
2
HONDA5 (20.8%)
3
FORD3 (12.5%)
-57.1%prior 7
4
SUBARU3 (12.5%)
5
MERCEDES-BENZ2 (8.3%)
6
CHEVROLET1 (4.2%)
7
NISSAN1 (4.2%)
8
AUDI1 (4.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

5 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (30 persons with recorded sex)

Male19 (63.3%)
-29.6%prior 27
Female11 (36.7%)
-35.3%prior 17

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The total number of crashes reported within specified speed limits decreased from 19 in May 2021 to 11 in May 2022. Crashes in the 30 mph zone decreased from 5 to 2, and in the 40 mph zone from 4 to 3. Notably, the 35 mph zone, which had 6 crashes in May 2021, did not appear in the May 2022 data, while 45 mph emerged with 3 crashes in the current period. All speed zones maintained a fatal crash rate of 0 in both years.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · 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: 2022-05-01 through 2022-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-05-01 through 2022-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: ACTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 12
  • Total persons involved: 33
  • Total vehicles involved: 24

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: May 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/acton/may-2022-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

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Acton, MA Crash Report — May 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com