Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

28 CRASHES IN
ACTON, MA
OCTOBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2023

In October 2024, ACTON experienced 28 total crashes, a 22.2% decrease compared to the 36 crashes reported in October 2023. A notable shift is the emergence of hit-and-run crashes, which increased from 0 in the prior period to 3 in the current period.

28

-22.2%was 36

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

16

60.0%was 10

Persons Injured

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes

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. 2 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, the number of crashes in ACTON decreased year-over-year, falling from 36 crashes in October 2023 to 28 crashes in October 2024, representing a 22.2% reduction. Despite the decrease in total crashes, the number of total injuries increased by 60%, from 10 injuries in October 2023 to 16 injuries in October 2024.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2024

10.7% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

16

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1060.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday with 9 crashes in October 2023 to Thursday with 7 crashes in October 2024. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes moved from 2 PM with 5 crashes in the prior period to 7 PM with 4 crashes in the current period, indicating a shift in crash timing.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Neither period recorded any fatal crashes. However, total injuries increased from 10 in October 2023 to 16 in October 2024, a 60% rise. Serious injury crashes, which were absent in the prior period, accounted for 2 crashes (7.1% of total crashes) in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes7.1%
Minor Injury9minor injury crashes32.1%
80.0%prior 5
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes3.6%
-75.0%prior 4
No Injury14no injury crashes50%
-48.1%prior 27

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The number of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased from 9 in October 2023 to 7 in October 2024. Crashes due to 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a significant decrease from 8 to 3, while 'Followed too closely' crashes increased from 2 to 3. 'Other improper action' emerged as a factor with 3 crashes in the current period, compared to 0 explicitly listed in the prior period's top factors.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving7 (25%)-22.2%prior 9
Followed too closely3 (10.7%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (10.7%)-62.5%prior 8
Other improper action3 (10.7%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (3.6%)
History heart/epilepsy/fainting1 (3.6%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (3.6%)-80.0%prior 5
Distracted1 (3.6%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (3.6%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (3.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 25 in October 2023 to 19 in October 2024. The number of crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces significantly decreased from 5 in the prior period to 1 in the current period. Crashes during 'Daylight' conditions also decreased from 27 to 16, while crashes during 'Dusk' increased from 2 to 3, and 'Dawn' from 1 to 2.

Weather

Clear19 (70.4%)
-24.0%prior 25
Clear/Clear3 (11.1%)
Clear/Cloudy3 (11.1%)
Clear/Unknown1 (3.7%)
Rain1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight16 (59.3%)
-40.7%prior 27
Dark - lighted roadway4 (14.8%)
Dusk3 (11.1%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (7.4%)
Dawn2 (7.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry26 (96.3%)
-16.1%prior 31
Wet1 (3.7%)
-80.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes decreased from 76 in October 2023 to 63 in October 2024. There was a notable increase in persons aged 35-44 involved in crashes, rising from 7 to 16, and a significant decrease in the 65+ age group, falling from 22 to 7. Toyota, the top make in October 2023 with 13 vehicles, saw its involvement decrease to 7, while Honda's involvement increased from 4 to 8, becoming one of the top makes alongside Ford.

Top Vehicle Makes (53 vehicles)

1
HONDA8 (15.1%)
2
FORD8 (15.1%)
33.3%prior 6
3
TOYOTA7 (13.2%)
-46.2%prior 13
4
SUBARU5 (9.4%)
-28.6%prior 7
5
HYUNDAI3 (5.7%)
6
NISSAN3 (5.7%)
7
TESL2 (3.8%)
8
CHRYSLER2 (3.8%)
9
GMC2 (3.8%)
10
RAM2 (3.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (57 persons with recorded sex)

Male29 (50.9%)
-25.6%prior 39
Female28 (49.1%)
-22.2%prior 36

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 9 in October 2023 to 5 in October 2024. Conversely, crashes in 5 mph zones increased from 1 to 3, and 45 mph zones increased from 3 to 5. The 50 mph speed zone appeared in the current period with 1 crash, while the 65 mph zone, which had 1 crash in the prior period, was not present in the current data.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · 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: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: ACTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 28
  • Total persons involved: 63
  • Total vehicles involved: 53

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: October 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/acton/october-2024-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 — October 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com