Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

65 CRASHES IN
BELLINGHAM, MA
DECEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2022

Total crashes in Bellingham, MA increased by 35.4% from 48 in December 2022 to 65 in December 2023. While overall crashes and injuries rose, fatalities decreased from 1 in the prior period to 0 in the current period.

65

35.4%was 48

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

11

10.0%was 10

Persons Injured

3

-25.0%was 4

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. 2 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates an increase in crash activity year-over-year. Total crashes rose by 35.4% from 48 to 65, and total injuries increased by 10% from 10 to 11. Conversely, total fatalities decreased from 1 in December 2022 to 0 in December 2023.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2023

-25.0% vs prior (4)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 4 in December 2022 to 3 in December 2023. Concurrently, the hit-and-run crash rate decreased from 8.3% in the prior period to 4.6% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

11

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1010.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Friday with 11 crashes in December 2022 to Monday with 14 crashes in December 2023. The peak crash hour also changed, moving from 4 p.m. with 7 crashes in the prior year to 10 a.m. with 9 crashes in the current year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The number of fatal crashes decreased from 1 in December 2022 to 0 in December 2023. Serious injuries remained constant at 1 crash in both periods. Minor injury crashes increased from 4 to 6, while possible injury crashes decreased from 3 to 2.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.5%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury6minor injury crashes9.2%
50.0%prior 4
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes3.1%
-33.3%prior 3
No Injury54no injury crashes83.1%
38.5%prior 39

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' increased from 11 in December 2022 to 19 in December 2023, a 72.7% rise in count. 'Inattention' decreased slightly from 9 crashes to 8 crashes, and 'Failed to yield right of way' increased from 5 to 6 crashes. The top three contributing factors maintained their ranking between the two periods.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving19 (29.2%)72.7%prior 11
Inattention8 (12.3%)-11.1%prior 9
Failed to yield right of way6 (9.2%)20.0%prior 5
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (6.2%)
Followed too closely2 (3.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (3.1%)
Distracted1 (1.5%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (1.5%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 34 in December 2022 to 41 in December 2023, while those in rain increased from 5 to 9. For lighting conditions, daylight crashes rose from 35 to 40, and crashes in dark-lighted roadways increased from 10 to 16. On road surfaces, dry condition crashes increased from 33 to 41, and wet condition crashes increased from 13 to 21.

Weather

Clear41 (63.1%)
20.6%prior 34
Rain9 (13.8%)
80.0%prior 5
Cloudy8 (12.3%)
Cloudy/Rain4 (6.2%)
Clear/Rain1 (1.5%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (1.5%)
Rain/Severe crosswinds1 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight40 (61.5%)
14.3%prior 35
Dark - lighted roadway16 (24.6%)
60.0%prior 10
Dark - roadway not lighted9 (13.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry41 (63.1%)
24.2%prior 33
Wet21 (32.3%)
61.5%prior 13
Ice2 (3.1%)
Slush1 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 86 in December 2022 to 118 in December 2023. Among top makes, FORD increased from 13 to 20, TOYOTA from 11 to 19, and NISSAN from 2 to 11. In terms of person demographics, the 26-34 age group saw a significant increase in involved persons from 14 to 28, and the 45-54 age group increased from 10 to 19, while the 65+ age group decreased from 17 to 12.

Top Vehicle Makes (118 vehicles)

1
FORD20 (16.9%)
53.8%prior 13
2
TOYOTA19 (16.1%)
72.7%prior 11
3
NISSAN11 (9.3%)
4
HONDA9 (7.6%)
28.6%prior 7
5
JEEP9 (7.6%)
28.6%prior 7
6
CHEVROLET7 (5.9%)
-12.5%prior 8
7
HYUNDAI5 (4.2%)
-16.7%prior 6
8
GMC4 (3.4%)
9
KIA4 (3.4%)
10
ACURA3 (2.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (137 persons with recorded sex)

Male78 (56.9%)
52.9%prior 51
Female59 (43.1%)
31.1%prior 45

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph zones increased from 21 in December 2022 to 25 in December 2023, and crashes in 35 mph zones increased from 10 to 19. Crashes in 65 mph zones doubled from 2 to 4, but fatalities in these zones decreased from 1 to 0. Crashes in 40 mph zones decreased from 6 to 3.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 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: 2023-12-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-12-01 through 2023-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: BELLINGHAM, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 65
  • Total persons involved: 143
  • Total vehicles involved: 118

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: December 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/bellingham/december-2023-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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Bellingham, MA Crash Report — December 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com