Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

20 CRASHES IN
ATHOL, MA
NOVEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2022

In November 2023, ATHOL experienced 20 crashes, a decrease of 16.67% compared to the 24 crashes reported in November 2022. A notable shift was the reduction in single vehicle crashes, which decreased from 14 in the prior period to 6 in the current period.

20

-16.7%was 24

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

5

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 · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Total crashes decreased from 24 in November 2022 to 20 in November 2023, representing a 16.67% reduction. Total injuries remained stable at 5 for both periods, while total fatalities remained at 0. This indicates a downward trend in overall crash volume with stable injury numbers.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

4

Motorists Injured

Prior: 5-20.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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 (6 crashes) in November 2022 to Thursday (5 crashes) in November 2023. The peak hour also shifted from 7 p.m. (4 crashes) in November 2022 to 5 p.m. (4 crashes) in November 2023. Crashes on Sunday decreased significantly from 5 to 1, while crashes on Thursday increased from 3 to 5.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Total fatalities remained at 0 for both periods, and the total number of injured persons remained stable at 5. However, the distribution of crash severity changed: November 2023 recorded 1 serious injury crash and 2 minor injury crashes, whereas November 2022 reported 4 minor injury crashes and no serious injury crashes. This indicates a shift towards more severe injury outcomes in the current period despite stable overall injury numbers.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes5%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes10%
-50.0%prior 4
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes5%
No Injury16no injury crashes80%
-15.8%prior 19

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

"No improper driving" increased by 5 crashes, from 6 in November 2022 to 11 in November 2023, maintaining its position as the most frequent contributing factor. "Inattention" decreased by 2 crashes, from 4 to 2. Factors such as "Followed too closely" (3 crashes in prior) and "Operating vehicle in erratic..." (2 crashes in prior) were not among the top factors in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving11 (55%)83.3%prior 6
Inattention2 (10%)
Visibility obstructed2 (10%)
Operating defective equipment1 (5%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (5%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (5%)
Glare1 (5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather increased from 17 in November 2022 to 19 in November 2023. Conversely, crashes in adverse weather conditions (cloudy, rainy, or snowy) decreased from a combined 7 in November 2022 to 1 in November 2023. Crashes on wet road surfaces decreased from 6 to 3, while crashes on dry road surfaces remained stable at 17.

Weather

Clear19 (95.0%)
11.8%prior 17
Cloudy/Rain1 (5.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight11 (55.0%)
0.0%prior 11
Dark - lighted roadway6 (30.0%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (10.0%)
-66.7%prior 6
Dusk1 (5.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry17 (85.0%)
0.0%prior 17
Wet3 (15.0%)
-50.0%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (34 vehicles)

1
CHEVROLET6 (17.6%)
2
TOYOTA5 (14.7%)
-37.5%prior 8
3
JEEP3 (8.8%)
4
FORD3 (8.8%)
5
HYUNDAI3 (8.8%)
6
SUBARU2 (5.9%)
7
HONDA2 (5.9%)
8
NISSAN2 (5.9%)
9
VOLVO1 (2.9%)
10
CHRYSLER1 (2.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (36 persons with recorded sex)

Female24 (66.7%)
71.4%prior 14
Male12 (33.3%)
-58.6%prior 29

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

All speed zones reported 0 fatal crashes in both periods. Crashes in 30 mph zones increased from 6 in November 2022 to 9 in November 2023. Conversely, crashes in 40 mph zones decreased from 7 to 4, and crashes in 55 mph zones decreased from 5 to 1. The current period also saw a crash in a 20 mph zone, a speed limit not present in the prior period's crash data.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: ATHOL, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 20
  • Total persons involved: 41
  • Total vehicles involved: 34

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: November 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/athol/november-2023-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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Athol, MA Crash Report — November 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com