Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

22 CRASHES IN
BELCHERTOWN, MA
JANUARY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2024

In January 2025, Belchertown experienced 22 total crashes, marking a significant decrease of 46.3% compared to the 41 crashes recorded in January 2024. This notable reduction in overall incidents was accompanied by a substantial decline in single vehicle crashes, which fell from 25 to 10 year-over-year. Additionally, DUI-related crashes decreased from 5 in the prior year to 1 in the current period.

22

-46.3%was 41

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

5

Persons Injured

0

-100.0%was 3

Hit-and-Run Crashes

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 · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash data for Belchertown shows a significant downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing by 46.3% from 41 in January 2024 to 22 in January 2025. Despite this substantial reduction in crash volume, the total number of injuries remained stable at 5 for both periods. There were no fatalities reported in either January 2024 or January 2025.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

5

Motorists Injured

Prior: 50.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shows some consistency, with Wednesday remaining the peak day for crashes in both periods, although the count decreased from 10 crashes in January 2024 to 7 crashes in January 2025. Similarly, 5 PM continued to be the peak hour for incidents, experiencing 3 crashes in January 2025 compared to 6 crashes in the prior year. While the peak day and hour remained the same, the overall frequency of crashes during these times has decreased.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both January 2024 and January 2025, indicating no change in the most severe outcome. Despite a 46.3% decrease in total crashes, the total number of injuries remained constant at 5 for both periods. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injury increased from 7.3% (3 crashes) in the prior period to 9.1% (2 crashes) in the current period, while crashes with possible injury, which accounted for 4.9% (2 crashes) in January 2024, were not reported in January 2025.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury2minor injury crashes9.1%
-33.3%prior 3
No Injury20no injury crashes90.9%
-41.2%prior 34

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' saw a substantial decrease from 21 crashes in January 2024 to 8 crashes in January 2025. Inattention-related crashes increased slightly from 3 to 4 year-over-year, rising to become the second most frequent factor. Meanwhile, crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions' decreased from 3 to 1, and 'Failed to yield right of way' remained consistent at 2 crashes in both periods.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving8 (36.4%)-61.9%prior 21
Inattention4 (18.2%)
Failed to yield right of way2 (9.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (4.5%)
Other improper action1 (4.5%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (4.5%)
Visibility obstructed1 (4.5%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (4.5%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (4.5%)
Glare1 (4.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 23 in January 2024 to 18 in January 2025, and crashes on dry road surfaces saw a slight reduction from 20 to 19. There was a notable decrease in crashes during adverse road conditions, with incidents on snow-covered roads falling from 13 to 1, and those on icy roads decreasing from 3 to 2. Crashes occurring in daylight also decreased from 18 to 10 year-over-year.

Weather

Clear18 (81.8%)
-21.7%prior 23
Cloudy3 (13.6%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow1 (4.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight10 (45.5%)
-44.4%prior 18
Dark - roadway not lighted6 (27.3%)
-50.0%prior 12
Dark - lighted roadway5 (22.7%)
-28.6%prior 7
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (4.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry19 (86.4%)
-5.0%prior 20
Ice2 (9.1%)
Snow1 (4.5%)
-92.3%prior 13

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (32 vehicles)

1
FORD5 (15.6%)
-58.3%prior 12
2
NISSAN3 (9.4%)
3
SUBARU3 (9.4%)
4
TOYOTA3 (9.4%)
-40.0%prior 5
5
HONDA3 (9.4%)
-40.0%prior 5
6
JEEP3 (9.4%)
7
HYUNDAI2 (6.3%)
-60.0%prior 5
8
GMC2 (6.3%)
9
CHEVROLET2 (6.3%)
-66.7%prior 6
10
VOLKSWAGEN1 (3.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (40 persons with recorded sex)

Male21 (52.5%)
-34.4%prior 32
Female19 (47.5%)
-29.6%prior 27

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone experienced the largest reduction, decreasing from 14 incidents in January 2024 to 5 in January 2025. Similarly, crashes in the 40 mph zone decreased from 8 to 5, and those in the 35 mph zone decreased from 6 to 5. The prior period recorded crashes in higher speed zones (45, 50, and 55 mph) which were not present in the current January data, indicating a shift away from incidents in these higher limits.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-01-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: BELCHERTOWN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 22
  • Total persons involved: 43
  • Total vehicles involved: 32

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: January 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/belchertown/january-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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Belchertown, MA Crash Report — January 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com