Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

736 CRASHES IN
AUBURN, MA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In 2023, Auburn recorded 736 total vehicle crashes, a 6.2% increase from the 693 crashes in 2022. During this period, total fatalities doubled from one to two, and total injuries rose by 11.8% from 186 to 208. A notable shift was the increase in crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely', which grew in count by nearly 40% and became the leading contributing factor.

736

6.2%was 693

Total Crash Events

2

100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

208

11.8%was 186

Persons Injured

46

21.1%was 38

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) 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 · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic safety metrics worsened in 2023 compared to the prior year. Total crashes increased by 6.2%, from 693 to 736. The number of people killed in crashes doubled from one to two, and the number of people injured increased by 11.8% to 208.

46

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023

21.1% vs prior (38)

Hit-and-run incidents trended upward year-over-year. The absolute number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 38 in 2022 to 46 in 2023. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate as a percentage of all crashes also rose, from 5.5% in the prior period to 6.3% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1100.0%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 250.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 2-50.0%

204

Motorists Injured

Prior: 18212.1%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. Friday continued to be the peak day for crashes in both 2022 (121 crashes) and 2023 (136 crashes). Similarly, the 3 PM hour was the peak time for collisions in both periods, with 75 crashes in 2022 and 74 in 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes showed a mixed but concerning trend. While fatal crashes doubled from one to two, crashes resulting in serious injuries decreased significantly from 10 in 2022 to just 3 in 2023. The proportion of crashes involving no injuries remained stable, accounting for 76.9% of incidents in 2022 and 77.6% in 2023.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes0.3%
100.0%prior 1
Serious Injury3serious injury crashes0.4%
-70.0%prior 10
Minor Injury95minor injury crashes12.9%
-2.1%prior 97
Possible Injury53possible injury crashes7.2%
23.3%prior 43
No Injury571no injury crashes77.6%
7.1%prior 533

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The ranking of top contributing factors shifted between the two periods. 'Followed too closely' became the leading factor in 2023, with the count of such incidents increasing by 39.4% from 109 to 152. Conversely, crashes where 'No improper driving' was cited decreased from 146 to 132, and 'Failed to yield right of way' incidents fell from 102 to 89.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too closely152 (20.7%)39.4%prior 109
No improper driving132 (17.9%)-9.6%prior 146
Inattention99 (13.5%)20.7%prior 82
Failed to yield right of way89 (12.1%)-12.7%prior 102
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road38 (5.2%)-13.6%prior 44
Visibility obstructed22 (3%)15.8%prior 19
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner22 (3%)29.4%prior 17
Driving too fast for conditions22 (3%)22.2%prior 18
Other improper action19 (2.6%)-5.0%prior 20
Distracted14 (1.9%)133.3%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a noticeable increase in crashes occurring during adverse weather and road conditions. The number of crashes on wet roads rose from 96 in 2022 to 139 in 2023, and collisions during rain increased from 38 to 66. Consequently, the share of crashes on wet roads grew from 13.8% to 18.9% of all incidents.

Weather

Clear466 (64.4%)
-5.5%prior 493
Cloudy76 (10.5%)
15.2%prior 66
Rain66 (9.1%)
73.7%prior 38
Cloudy/Rain26 (3.6%)
73.3%prior 15
Clear/Unknown26 (3.6%)
116.7%prior 12
Snow15 (2.1%)
50.0%prior 10
Clear/Other11 (1.5%)
-35.3%prior 17
Clear/Cloudy10 (1.4%)
100.0%prior 5
Rain/Cloudy7 (1.0%)
0.0%prior 7
Rain/Snow3 (0.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight542 (73.7%)
5.7%prior 513
Dark - lighted roadway103 (14.0%)
14.4%prior 90
Dark - roadway not lighted50 (6.8%)
-19.4%prior 62
Dusk20 (2.7%)
33.3%prior 15
Dawn12 (1.6%)
33.3%prior 9
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (0.5%)
Other4 (0.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry576 (78.4%)
1.8%prior 566
Wet139 (18.9%)
44.8%prior 96
Snow17 (2.3%)
6.3%prior 16
Ice2 (0.3%)
-81.8%prior 11
Slush1 (0.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The demographic profile of vehicles and persons involved in crashes remained largely unchanged. Toyota, Ford, and Honda were the top three vehicle makes involved in collisions in both years, with their rankings and counts remaining proportional to the overall increase in crashes. The 26-34 age group represented the largest cohort of individuals involved in crashes in both periods.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,404 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA213 (15.2%)
8.7%prior 196
2
FORD152 (10.8%)
-4.4%prior 159
3
HONDA120 (8.5%)
3.4%prior 116
4
CHEVROLET112 (8%)
12.0%prior 100
5
NISSAN91 (6.5%)
13.8%prior 80
6
SUBARU69 (4.9%)
23.2%prior 56
7
JEEP64 (4.6%)
-11.1%prior 72
8
HYUNDAI58 (4.1%)
5.5%prior 55
9
VOLKSWAGEN36 (2.6%)
16.1%prior 31
10
GMC31 (2.2%)
-8.8%prior 34

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,566 persons with recorded sex)

Male920 (58.7%)
8.4%prior 849
Female646 (41.3%)
3.4%prior 625

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes shifted towards higher speed zones in 2023. Collisions in the 65 mph zone increased substantially from 199 to 264, while crashes in 30 mph and 40 mph zones saw slight decreases. All fatal crashes across both periods occurred in the 65 mph zone, with two fatalities in 2023 compared to one in 2022.

Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 2 of 264 (0.758%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: AUBURN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 736
  • Total persons involved: 1,706
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,404

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: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/auburn/2023-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 — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com