Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

14 CRASHES IN
ASHLAND, MA
JANUARY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2024

In January 2025, Ashland experienced 14 crashes, a 50% decrease compared to the 28 crashes recorded in January 2024. Total injuries also saw a significant reduction, falling from 5 to 2 over the same period. One notable shift was the complete absence of speeding-related crashes in the current period, down from 5 in the prior year.

14

-50.0%was 28

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

2

-60.0%was 5

Persons Injured

2

100.0%was 1

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Total crashes decreased from 28 in January 2024 to 14 in January 2025, representing a 50% reduction year-over-year. Similarly, total injuries decreased from 5 to 2, a 60% reduction. These figures indicate a significant downward trend in both overall crashes and associated injuries for January 2025 compared to the prior year.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2025

100.0% vs prior (1)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 1 in January 2024 to 2 in January 2025. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate rose from 3.6% of all crashes in the prior period to 14.3% in the current period, indicating an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Injured

Prior: 4-50.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

In January 2025, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 4 incidents, and the peak hour was 11 AM with 3 incidents. This represents a shift from January 2024, when the peak day was Sunday with 7 crashes and the peak hour was 4 PM with 4 crashes. The data suggests a change in the timing of peak crash activity, moving from weekends and late afternoons to weekdays and late mornings.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Both January 2025 and January 2024 recorded zero fatalities. Total injuries decreased from 5 in the prior period to 2 in the current period, representing a 60% reduction. Minor injuries decreased from 3 to 1, while possible injuries decreased from 2 to 1, indicating a general reduction across injury severities.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes7.1%
-66.7%prior 3
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes7.1%
-50.0%prior 2
No Injury12no injury crashes85.7%
-45.5%prior 22

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

"No improper driving" remained the most frequent factor, though its count decreased from 14 in January 2024 to 6 in January 2025. Crashes attributed to "Driving too fast for conditions" completely disappeared in the current period, down from 5 in the prior period. Conversely, "Distracted" driving, "Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road," and "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner" each appeared as factors in one crash in January 2025, none of which were noted in January 2024.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving6 (42.9%)-57.1%prior 14
Distracted1 (7.1%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (7.1%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (7.1%)
Illness1 (7.1%)
Inattention1 (7.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (7.1%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (7.1%)
Other improper action1 (7.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Clear weather conditions were associated with 10 crashes in January 2025, down from 16 in January 2024. Snow-related crashes significantly decreased from 11 in the prior period to 1 in the current period. Crashes occurring in daylight also decreased from 21 to 8, while those in "Dark - lighted roadway" decreased from 7 to 4.

Weather

Clear10 (71.4%)
-37.5%prior 16
Clear/Unknown1 (7.1%)
Cloudy1 (7.1%)
Rain1 (7.1%)
Snow1 (7.1%)
-90.9%prior 11

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight8 (57.1%)
-61.9%prior 21
Dark - lighted roadway4 (28.6%)
-42.9%prior 7
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (7.1%)
Dusk1 (7.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry12 (85.7%)
-14.3%prior 14
Snow1 (7.1%)
-90.9%prior 11
Wet1 (7.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (25 vehicles)

1
HONDA4 (16%)
2
TOYOTA4 (16%)
-55.6%prior 9
3
HYUNDAI3 (12%)
4
MAZDA2 (8%)
5
VOLKSWAGEN2 (8%)
6
FORD2 (8%)
-66.7%prior 6
7
GMC2 (8%)
8
CHEVROLET2 (8%)
9
NISSAN1 (4%)
10
DODGE1 (4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (23 persons with recorded sex)

Male14 (60.9%)
-46.2%prior 26
Female9 (39.1%)
-60.9%prior 23

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The highest number of crashes in January 2025 occurred in 35 mph zones with 7 incidents, which was a decrease from 12 crashes in 35 mph zones in January 2024. Crashes in 25 mph zones decreased from 9 to 5 year-over-year. Notably, there were no crashes reported in 30 mph or 65 mph zones in the current period, down from 6 and 1 respectively in the prior period, while a new category of 5 mph had 1 crash.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-01-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: ASHLAND, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 14
  • Total persons involved: 26
  • Total vehicles involved: 25

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). "ASHLAND, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/ashland/january-2025-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

Ashland, MA Crash Report — January 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com