Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

693 CRASHES IN
AUBURN, MA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In 2022, Auburn recorded 693 total crashes, a 4.1% increase from the 666 crashes documented in 2021. Despite this rise in total incidents, the number of people injured decreased by 21.2%, from 236 in 2021 to 186 in 2022. Total fatalities also declined from two to one over the same period.

693

4.1%was 666

Total Crash Events

1

-50.0%was 2

Persons Killed

186

-21.2%was 236

Persons Injured

38

18.8%was 32

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) 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. 9 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 traffic crashes in Auburn increased by 4.1% from 2021 to 2022, rising from 666 to 693 incidents. However, the outcomes of these crashes became less severe on average. Total reported injuries fell by 21.2% (from 236 to 186), and fatalities were halved from two to one.

38

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022

18.8% vs prior (32)

Hit-and-run incidents increased both in absolute numbers and as a proportion of total crashes. The count of hit-and-run crashes rose from 32 in 2021 to 38 in 2022, an increase of 18.8%. This caused the hit-and-run rate to climb from 4.8% of all crashes in 2021 to 5.5% in 2022.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-50.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

182

Motorists Injured

Prior: 235-22.6%

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 pattern of crashes showed some shifts between the two years. While the peak hour for crashes remained 3 p.m. in both 2021 (72 crashes) and 2022 (75 crashes), the most frequent day for crashes changed. The peak day shifted from Tuesday in 2021 (103 crashes) to Friday in 2022 (121 crashes).

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 overall severity of crashes improved from 2021 to 2022. The number of fatal crashes fell from two to one, and the total count of crashes involving any level of injury decreased from 165 to 150. However, the number of crashes resulting in a serious injury increased from 6 in 2021 to 10 in 2022, representing a rise in share from 0.9% to 1.4% of all crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.1%
-50.0%prior 2
Serious Injury10serious injury crashes1.4%
66.7%prior 6
Minor Injury97minor injury crashes14%
-8.5%prior 106
Possible Injury43possible injury crashes6.2%
-18.9%prior 53
No Injury533no injury crashes76.9%
8.8%prior 490

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 remained broadly similar, with some notable shifts in volume. "Failed to yield right of way" saw a significant increase, growing by 41.7% from 72 incidents in 2021 to 102 in 2022, making it the third most common factor. Crashes attributed to "Followed too closely" also rose by 14.7% in count (from 95 to 109). In contrast, crashes citing "Inattention" as a factor decreased by 9.9% in count (from 91 to 82).

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving146 (21.1%)18.7%prior 123
Followed too closely109 (15.7%)14.7%prior 95
Failed to yield right of way102 (14.7%)41.7%prior 72
Inattention82 (11.8%)-9.9%prior 91
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road44 (6.3%)18.9%prior 37
Other improper action20 (2.9%)-35.5%prior 31
Visibility obstructed19 (2.7%)-5.0%prior 20
Driving too fast for conditions18 (2.6%)-28.0%prior 25
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner17 (2.5%)-22.7%prior 22
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings15 (2.2%)15.4%prior 13

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

In both 2021 and 2022, the vast majority of crashes occurred in ideal conditions: during daylight, in clear weather, and on dry roads. The proportion of crashes on dry road surfaces was nearly identical year-over-year, at 81.1% in 2021 and 81.7% in 2022. Similarly, crashes during daylight hours accounted for 72.4% of incidents in 2021 and 74.0% in 2022, showing no significant shift in lighting conditions at the time of a crash.

Weather

Clear493 (71.8%)
14.4%prior 431
Cloudy66 (9.6%)
-25.8%prior 89
Rain38 (5.5%)
-25.5%prior 51
Clear/Other17 (2.5%)
183.3%prior 6
Cloudy/Rain15 (2.2%)
-21.1%prior 19
Clear/Unknown12 (1.7%)
-40.0%prior 20
Snow10 (1.5%)
0.0%prior 10
Rain/Cloudy7 (1.0%)
Cloudy/Snow5 (0.7%)
Clear/Cloudy5 (0.7%)
-37.5%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight513 (74.2%)
6.4%prior 482
Dark - lighted roadway90 (13.0%)
-10.9%prior 101
Dark - roadway not lighted62 (9.0%)
8.8%prior 57
Dusk15 (2.2%)
7.1%prior 14
Dawn9 (1.3%)
0.0%prior 9
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.1%)
Other1 (0.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry566 (81.8%)
4.8%prior 540
Wet96 (13.9%)
-8.6%prior 105
Snow16 (2.3%)
23.1%prior 13
Ice11 (1.6%)
Slush2 (0.3%)
Other1 (0.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Toyota, Ford, and Honda leading in both years. Toyota-involved incidents increased from 172 to 196, and Ford from 148 to 159, while Honda-involved incidents saw a slight decrease from 129 to 116. Regarding persons involved, the 26-34 age group was the largest cohort in both periods, though their count decreased from 296 to 267. Conversely, the number of individuals aged 65 and older involved in crashes increased from 153 in 2021 to 190 in 2022.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,319 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA196 (14.9%)
14.0%prior 172
2
FORD159 (12.1%)
7.4%prior 148
3
HONDA116 (8.8%)
-10.1%prior 129
4
CHEVROLET100 (7.6%)
1.0%prior 99
5
NISSAN80 (6.1%)
-7.0%prior 86
6
JEEP72 (5.5%)
20.0%prior 60
7
SUBARU56 (4.2%)
12.0%prior 50
8
HYUNDAI55 (4.2%)
-8.3%prior 60
9
DODGE37 (2.8%)
42.3%prior 26
10
GMC34 (2.6%)
21.4%prior 28

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,474 persons with recorded sex)

Male849 (57.6%)
-1.6%prior 863
Female625 (42.4%)
-5.6%prior 662

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

There was a noticeable shift in crashes from higher to lower speed zones between the two years. Crashes in 65 mph zones decreased from 215 to 199, and in 40 mph zones from 180 to 162. Conversely, incidents in 30 mph zones increased from 121 to 152. While 2021's fatal crashes occurred in a 50 mph zone, 2022's lone fatal crash took place in a 65 mph zone.

Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 1 of 199 (0.503%)

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: AUBURN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 693
  • Total persons involved: 1,588
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,319

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). "AUBURN, 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/auburn/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

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Auburn, MA Crash Report — 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com