Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

17 CRASHES IN
BEDFORD, MA
SEPTEMBER 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2024

Total crashes in Bedford, MA, increased from 8 in September 2024 to 17 in September 2025, marking a 112.5% rise year-over-year. The most notable shift was the occurrence of 1 fatality in September 2025, compared to 0 fatalities in September 2024.

17

112.5%was 8

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

1

-50.0%was 2

Persons Injured

1

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in Bedford, MA, significantly increased year-over-year, rising by 112.5% from 8 total crashes in September 2024 to 17 total crashes in September 2025. This represents an increase of 9 crashes in the current period.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2025

5.9% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2-50.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · 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 Thursday with 3 crashes in September 2024 to Wednesday with 6 crashes in September 2025. The peak hour also changed, moving from 2 p.m. with 2 crashes in the prior period to 8 a.m. with 3 crashes in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

September 2025 saw 1 fatality and 1 injury, resulting in a fatal crash rate of 5.88%, compared to 0 fatalities and 2 injuries in September 2024. Fatal crashes accounted for 5.9% of all crashes in the current period, while minor injury crashes decreased from 25% of crashes in September 2024 to 5.9% in September 2025.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes5.9%
Minor Injury1minor injury crashes5.9%
-50.0%prior 2
No Injury15no injury crashes88.2%
150.0%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The count of crashes where "Followed too closely" was a contributing factor increased from 2 in September 2024 to 5 in September 2025. Conversely, crashes attributed to "Inattention" decreased from 2 to 1, and "Other improper action" also decreased from 2 to 1. "No improper driving" emerged as a contributing factor in 3 crashes in the current period, whereas it was not listed as a top factor in the prior period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too closely5 (29.4%)
No improper driving3 (17.6%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (11.8%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (5.9%)
Inattention1 (5.9%)
Other improper action1 (5.9%)
Visibility obstructed1 (5.9%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (5.9%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (5.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions increased from 3 in September 2024 to 11 in September 2025. Similarly, crashes during "Daylight" conditions rose from 5 to 12, and those on "Dry" road surfaces increased from 7 to 14. "Wet" road surface crashes also saw an increase, from 1 in the prior period to 3 in the current period.

Weather

Clear11 (64.7%)
Clear/Clear2 (11.8%)
Rain2 (11.8%)
Cloudy/Fog, smog, smoke1 (5.9%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (5.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight12 (70.6%)
140.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (11.8%)
Dawn2 (11.8%)
Dark - lighted roadway1 (5.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry14 (82.4%)
100.0%prior 7
Wet3 (17.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (30 vehicles)

1
HONDA3 (10%)
2
TOYOTA3 (10%)
3
CHEVROLET3 (10%)
4
BMW3 (10%)
5
SUBARU2 (6.7%)
6
FORD2 (6.7%)
7
JEEP2 (6.7%)
8
INFI2 (6.7%)
9
AUDI1 (3.3%)
10
VOLKSWAGEN1 (3.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (35 persons with recorded sex)

Male26 (74.3%)
136.4%prior 11
Female9 (25.7%)
-18.2%prior 11

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones increased from 3 in September 2024 to 5 in September 2025, with one fatal crash occurring in this zone in the current period. Crashes in 65 mph speed zones also rose, from 2 to 5. Additionally, 4 crashes occurred in 30 mph speed zones in September 2025, a category not present in the prior period's data.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 5 (20%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · 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: 2025-09-01 through 2025-09-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-09-01 through 2025-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: BEDFORD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 17
  • Total persons involved: 38
  • Total vehicles involved: 30

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). "BEDFORD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: September 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/bedford/september-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

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Bedford, MA Crash Report — September 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com