ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BELLINGHAM, MA · 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/bellingham/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
583 CRASHES IN
BELLINGHAM, MA
2023
In 2023, Bellingham recorded 583 total vehicle crashes, a 5.8% increase from the 551 crashes reported in 2022. Despite the rise in total incidents, total injuries decreased by 10.1% from 149 to 134, and fatalities fell from 2 to 1. One of the most notable changes was a 100% increase in crashes where speeding was a factor, which rose from 10 incidents in 2022 to 20 in 2023.
583
▲ 5.8%was 551
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -50.0%was 2
Persons Killed
134
▼ -10.1%was 149
Persons Injured
23
▼ -8.0%was 25
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. 11 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, total crashes in Bellingham increased by 5.8% from 551 in 2022 to 583 in 2023. While the number of crashes rose, the number of resulting injuries saw a 10.1% decrease, falling from 149 to 134. Fatalities also declined from 2 in the prior year to 1 in the current year.
23
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▼ -8.0% vs prior (25)
The incidence of hit-and-run crashes showed a slight downward trend in 2023 compared to the previous year. The total number of hit-and-run incidents decreased from 25 in 2022 to 23 in 2023. The hit-and-run rate, representing the percentage of all crashes that were hit-and-runs, also declined from 4.5% to 3.9%.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
1
Motorists Killed
1
Pedestrians Injured
133
Motorists Injured
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 showed some shifts between 2022 and 2023. The peak day for collisions moved from Friday (102 crashes) in 2022 to Tuesday (99 crashes) in 2023. The peak hour for crashes remained consistent at 4 p.m. in both periods, with 54 incidents in 2023 compared to 58 in 2022.
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 decreased from 2022 to 2023. The fatal crash rate fell from 0.36% to 0.17%, with one fatal crash in 2023 compared to two in the prior year. The proportion of crashes resulting in any level of injury (serious, minor, or possible) also declined, accounting for 14.5% of all crashes in 2023, down from 18.2% in 2022. Specifically, the share of serious injury crashes dropped from 2.4% to 1.5%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
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 top contributing factors cited in crashes remained consistent, though their counts shifted between 2022 and 2023. 'Inattention' remained a leading factor but its count decreased from 95 incidents in 2022 to 73 in 2023. In contrast, crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' increased by 28%, from 50 incidents to 64. The count for 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' also grew, rising from 19 to 28 cases.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
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
Driving conditions reported during crashes shifted between the two periods, particularly concerning road surface conditions. The proportion of crashes occurring on wet roads increased from 14.0% in 2022 to 22.8% in 2023, with the count rising from 77 to 133 incidents. Correspondingly, crashes on dry roads decreased as a share of the total, from 83.5% to 75.3%. The distribution of crashes by lighting conditions remained relatively stable, with daylight crashes accounting for 72.9% of incidents in 2023, compared to 77.5% in 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Ford, and Honda—remained unchanged between 2022 and 2023. Regarding the demographics of persons involved in collisions, there was a notable shift in age distribution. The number of individuals in the 16-20 age group increased from 125 to 166, while the 65+ age group saw a decrease from 173 individuals in 2022 to 136 in 2023.
Top Vehicle Makes (1,095 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
69 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (1,278 persons with recorded sex)
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
Analysis of crashes by posted speed limit shows a shift toward higher speed zones in 2023. The number of crashes in 65 mph zones increased from 25 in 2022 to 35 in 2023. Conversely, incidents in 35 mph zones decreased from 165 to 148. The single fatal crash in 2023 occurred in a 65 mph zone, while the two fatal crashes in 2022 were recorded in 40 mph and 65 mph zones.
Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 1 of 35 (2.857%)
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: BELLINGHAM, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 583
- Total persons involved: 1,365
- Total vehicles involved: 1,095
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). "BELLINGHAM, 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/bellingham/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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved