Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

30 CRASHES IN
BELCHERTOWN, MA
FEBRUARY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2024

Total crashes in BELCHERTOWN for February 2025 doubled to 30, compared to 15 crashes in February 2024. This significant increase in incidents was accompanied by an emergence of more severe injuries, including one serious injury and two minor injuries, which were not present in the prior year's data. The overall trend indicates a substantial rise in crash activity.

30

100.0%was 15

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

4

100.0%was 2

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash incidents in BELCHERTOWN rose from 15 in February 2024 to 30 in February 2025, marking a 100% increase year-over-year. Concurrently, the total number of injuries also doubled from 2 to 4. Fatalities remained at zero for both periods.

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 · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · 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 Thursday, with incidents on this day increasing from 5 in February 2024 to 11 in February 2025. The peak crash hour shifted from 3 PM in the prior period to 8 AM in the current period, which recorded 6 crashes during that hour.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at zero for both February 2024 and February 2025. Total injuries increased from 2 in the prior period to 4 in the current period. The prior period recorded only Possible Injuries, while the current period introduced Serious Injuries (1 crash) and Minor Injuries (2 crashes) to the severity distribution.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes3.3%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes6.7%
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes3.3%
-50.0%prior 2
No Injury25no injury crashes83.3%
92.3%prior 13

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The number of crashes attributed to "No improper driving" increased from 5 in February 2024 to 13 in February 2025. Crashes involving "Failed to yield right of way" and "Inattention" both doubled from 1 to 2 incidents each. "Driving too fast for conditions" emerged as a factor in the current period with 2 crashes, while factors such as "Followed too closely" and "Physical impairment" were present in the prior period but not in the current one.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving13 (43.3%)160.0%prior 5
Failed to yield right of way2 (6.7%)
Inattention2 (6.7%)
Driving too fast for conditions2 (6.7%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (3.3%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (3.3%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (3.3%)
Other improper action1 (3.3%)
Visibility obstructed1 (3.3%)
Distracted1 (3.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes during "Clear" weather decreased from 13 to 11, despite an overall increase in total crashes. The current period recorded several adverse weather conditions, including Snow (3 crashes) and Rain (3 crashes), which were not present in the prior period's data. "Daylight" crashes increased from 11 to 20, and "Dark - lighted roadway" conditions appeared with 5 crashes in the current period, which was not recorded in the prior period. Road surface condition data for the prior period was not available for comparison.

Weather

Clear11 (37.9%)
-15.4%prior 13
Cloudy3 (10.3%)
Snow3 (10.3%)
Rain3 (10.3%)
Rain/Snow2 (6.9%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow2 (6.9%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)2 (6.9%)
Cloudy/Snow1 (3.4%)
Rain/Fog, smog, smoke1 (3.4%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (3.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight20 (69.0%)
81.8%prior 11
Dark - lighted roadway5 (17.2%)
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (13.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Ice11 (37.9%)
Wet7 (24.1%)
Dry6 (20.7%)
Snow5 (17.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (40 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA12 (30%)
2
NISSAN4 (10%)
-33.3%prior 6
3
FORD3 (7.5%)
4
HONDA3 (7.5%)
5
SUBARU2 (5%)
6
HYUNDAI2 (5%)
7
DODGE2 (5%)
8
JEEP2 (5%)
9
VOLKSWAGEN1 (2.5%)
10
ACURA1 (2.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (45 persons with recorded sex)

Male23 (51.1%)
155.6%prior 9
Female22 (48.9%)
83.3%prior 12

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed limit zone saw the largest increase, rising from 2 crashes in February 2024 to 11 crashes in February 2025. Crashes in the 40 mph zone also increased from 6 to 9 year-over-year. No fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone for either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · 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: 2025-02-01 through 2025-02-28
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-02-01 through 2025-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: BELCHERTOWN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 30
  • Total persons involved: 48
  • Total vehicles involved: 40

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: February 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/belchertown/february-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Belchertown, MA Crash Report — February 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com