ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · ATHOL, MA · 2022
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/athol/2022-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
253 CRASHES IN
ATHOL, MA
2022
In 2022, Athol recorded 253 total vehicle crashes, an 11.0% increase from the 228 crashes recorded in 2021. While total fatalities remained stable at two for both years, the number of pedestrian-involved crashes increased from zero in the prior year to six in the current year, representing a notable shift in collision types.
253
▲ 11.0%was 228
Total Crash Events
2
Persons Killed
74
Persons Injured
6
▼ -50.0%was 12
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (2) 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. 12 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, the total number of crashes in Athol increased by 11.0% from 228 in 2021 to 253 in 2022. Despite this rise in crash volume, the number of resulting injuries and fatalities remained unchanged, with 74 injuries and 2 fatalities reported in both periods.
6
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022
▼ -50.0% vs prior (12)
Hit-and-run incidents decreased significantly in 2022 compared to the prior year. The total number of hit-and-run crashes was cut in half, falling from 12 in 2021 to 6 in 2022. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, representing the percentage of all crashes that were hit-and-runs, dropped from 5.3% to 2.4%.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
2
Motorists Killed
8
Pedestrians Injured
66
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes showed some shifts between the two years. While Friday remained the peak day for crashes in both 2021 (45 crashes) and 2022 (42 crashes), the peak hour shifted two hours earlier, from 5 p.m. in 2021 to 3 p.m. in 2022. The afternoon, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., saw a notable increase in collisions, accounting for 96 crashes in 2022 compared to 55 during the same timeframe in 2021.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes decreased from two in 2021 to one in 2022, corresponding to a drop in the fatal crash rate from 0.88% to 0.4%. The proportion of crashes involving injuries also saw a decline; crashes with serious, minor, or possible injuries collectively made up 20.6% of all incidents in 2022, down from 25.4% in 2021. Specifically, serious injury crashes decreased from 5 incidents to 3, and their share of total crashes fell from 2.2% to 1.2%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 1 fatal crash events resulted in 2 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors shifted between periods. In 2021, 'Inattention' was the top factor with 56 incidents, but this count decreased to 37 in 2022. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' increased from 51 to 85, making it the most common factor in 2022. 'Followed too closely' remained the third-ranked factor in both years, with a stable count of 17 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes were more likely to occur in clear weather and daylight conditions in 2022 compared to 2021. The proportion of crashes in daylight increased from 65.4% to 71.5% year-over-year, while crashes during clear weather conditions rose from 54.4% to 69.2% of the total. Despite this, the number of crashes on adverse road surfaces like wet, snow, or ice increased from 46 incidents in 2021 to 59 in 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The ranking of vehicle makes most frequently involved in crashes changed year-over-year. In 2022, Ford (57 vehicles) became the most common make, overtaking Toyota (54 vehicles), which was the top make in 2021 with 58 vehicles. Regarding the age of persons involved, the 26-34 age group was the largest in 2022 with 75 individuals, shifting from the 35-44 age group which was largest in 2021 with 72 individuals. Notably, the number of persons aged 0-15 involved in crashes nearly doubled from 18 to 34.
Top Vehicle Makes (418 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
51 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (458 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted notably, with a large increase in incidents occurring in 40 mph zones, which rose from 17 in 2021 to 42 in 2022. Conversely, crashes in 30 mph zones, while still the most frequent location, decreased from 111 to 91. In 2021, one fatal crash occurred in a 30 mph zone and another in a 55 mph zone; in 2022, the sole fatal crash occurred in a 55 mph zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 55 mph: 1 of 19 (5.263%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: ATHOL, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 253
- Total persons involved: 512
- Total vehicles involved: 418
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). "ATHOL, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/athol/2022-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: 2022-01-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved