Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

19 CRASHES IN
BELCHERTOWN, MA
APRIL 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstApril 2023

In April 2024, Belchertown experienced 19 crashes, a 26.67% increase compared to the 15 crashes recorded in April 2023. Total injuries also saw a slight rise from 3 to 4, with the emergence of 1 serious injury crash in the current period. Fatalities remained at zero for both periods.

19

26.7%was 15

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

4

33.3%was 3

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 · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates an increase in crash incidents year-over-year, with total crashes rising from 15 in April 2023 to 19 in April 2024. This represents a 26.67% increase in the number of crashes. Total injuries also increased from 3 to 4, marking a 33.33% rise.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

4

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2100.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes remained Tuesday in both periods, with crashes on this day increasing from 4 in April 2023 to 5 in April 2024. The peak crash hour shifted from 5 PM in April 2023 (4 crashes) to 4 PM in April 2024 (4 crashes). Notably, Wednesday crashes increased from 0 in April 2023 to 3 in April 2024, and crashes at 4 PM increased from 1 to 4.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at 0 in both April 2023 and April 2024. The total number of injury crashes increased from 3 (20% of total crashes) in April 2023 to 4 (21.1% of total crashes) in April 2024. A serious injury crash (5.3% of total crashes) and two possible injury crashes (10.5% of total crashes) were reported in April 2024, neither of which were present in April 2023.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes5.3%
Minor Injury1minor injury crashes5.3%
-66.7%prior 3
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes10.5%
No Injury15no injury crashes78.9%
25.0%prior 12

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, "No improper driving," increased from 3 crashes (20% share) in April 2023 to 7 crashes (36.8% share) in April 2024. "Inattention" remained constant at 3 crashes in both periods, though its share decreased from 20% to 15.8%. Factors like "Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings" and "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner" decreased from 2 crashes each to 0 crashes in April 2024.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving7 (36.8%)
Inattention3 (15.8%)
Visibility obstructed2 (10.5%)
Fatigued/asleep2 (10.5%)
Operating defective equipment1 (5.3%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (5.3%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (5.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

April 2024 saw a broader range of adverse conditions contributing to crashes compared to April 2023. Crashes occurring in "Snow/Blowing sand, snow" conditions (2 crashes) and "Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)" (1 crash) were reported in April 2024 but not in April 2023. Similarly, road surface conditions of "Snow" (2 crashes), "Ice" (1 crash), and "Slush" (1 crash) were present in April 2024, but absent in April 2023, which predominantly reported dry and wet conditions.

Weather

Clear11 (57.9%)
-15.4%prior 13
Rain2 (10.5%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow2 (10.5%)
Cloudy1 (5.3%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (5.3%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)/Snow1 (5.3%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (5.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight16 (84.2%)
23.1%prior 13
Dark - lighted roadway1 (5.3%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (5.3%)
Dawn1 (5.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry12 (63.2%)
-7.7%prior 13
Wet3 (15.8%)
Snow2 (10.5%)
Ice1 (5.3%)
Slush1 (5.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (26 vehicles)

1
HONDA6 (23.1%)
2
TOYOTA5 (19.2%)
3
INFI2 (7.7%)
4
FORD2 (7.7%)
5
HD1 (3.8%)
6
HYUNDAI1 (3.8%)
7
ICRP1 (3.8%)
8
CADI1 (3.8%)
9
ISU1 (3.8%)
10
JEEP1 (3.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (34 persons with recorded sex)

Male23 (67.6%)
43.8%prior 16
Female11 (32.4%)
57.1%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 40 mph speed zone increased from 5 in April 2023 to 7 in April 2024. Conversely, crashes in the 30 mph zone decreased from 4 to 2, and in the 45 mph zone from 3 to 1. New speed zones with crashes in April 2024 included 5 mph (1 crash), 25 mph (4 crashes), 50 mph (1 crash), and 55 mph (1 crash), none of which were present in April 2023's data.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30 · 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: 2024-04-01 through 2024-04-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-04-01 through 2024-04-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: BELCHERTOWN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 19
  • Total persons involved: 35
  • Total vehicles involved: 26

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). "BELCHERTOWN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: April 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2024-04-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/belchertown/april-2024-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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Belchertown, MA Crash Report — April 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com