Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

54 CRASHES IN
BELLINGHAM, MA
MAY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2024

Total crashes in Bellingham decreased by 12.9% year-over-year, from 62 in May 2024 to 54 in May 2025. A notable shift was observed in contributing factors, with crashes attributed to "Followed too closely" increasing fivefold, from 1 in May 2024 to 6 in May 2025. This change represents a significant increase in this specific type of incident.

54

-12.9%was 62

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

16

14.3%was 14

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 · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Bellingham show a decrease in total incidents, with 54 crashes reported in May 2025 compared to 62 in May 2024, representing a 12.9% reduction. While total fatalities remained stable at zero in both periods, total injuries increased slightly by 14.3%, from 14 to 16. This indicates a general decline in crash frequency but a slight rise in injury count.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

16

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1414.3%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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 Monday in May 2024, with 12 incidents, to Saturday in May 2025, with 13 incidents. The peak hour for crashes remained consistent at 4 PM in both periods, with 7 crashes occurring at this hour in May 2025 and 6 in May 2024. Additionally, May 2025 also saw 7 crashes at 1 PM, making it another peak hour.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both May 2024 and May 2025. The proportion of crashes resulting in "Possible Injury" increased significantly, from 4.8% (3 crashes) in May 2024 to 13% (7 crashes) in May 2025. Conversely, the proportion of "No Injury" crashes decreased from 83.9% (52 crashes) to 75.9% (41 crashes) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes3.7%
0.0%prior 2
Minor Injury4minor injury crashes7.4%
-20.0%prior 5
Possible Injury7possible injury crashes13%
133.3%prior 3
No Injury41no injury crashes75.9%
-21.2%prior 52

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to "Followed too closely" saw a substantial increase, rising from 1 crash in May 2024 to 6 crashes in May 2025, a 500% increase in count. Similarly, "Failed to yield right of way" crashes increased by 200%, from 1 to 3 incidents. In contrast, "Inattention" as a contributing factor decreased by 25%, from 8 crashes in May 2024 to 6 crashes in May 2025, with its share decreasing from 12.9% to 11.1%.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving26 (48.1%)13.0%prior 23
Inattention6 (11.1%)-25.0%prior 8
Followed too closely6 (11.1%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (5.6%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (3.7%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (3.7%)
Operating defective equipment1 (1.9%)
Other improper action1 (1.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring on wet road surfaces saw a significant increase, rising from 10 incidents in May 2024 to 23 incidents in May 2025. This led to the proportion of wet road crashes increasing from 16.4% to 42.6% of all crashes. Correspondingly, crashes under clear weather conditions decreased from 50 to 29 incidents year-over-year, while rain-related crashes increased from 5 to 21 incidents.

Weather

Clear29 (53.7%)
-42.0%prior 50
Rain11 (20.4%)
Rain/Cloudy6 (11.1%)
Cloudy3 (5.6%)
-40.0%prior 5
Cloudy/Rain3 (5.6%)
Clear/Rain1 (1.9%)
Clear/Clear1 (1.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight46 (85.2%)
-8.0%prior 50
Dark - lighted roadway5 (9.3%)
-16.7%prior 6
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (1.9%)
Dawn1 (1.9%)
Dusk1 (1.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry31 (57.4%)
-39.2%prior 51
Wet23 (42.6%)
130.0%prior 10

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes decreased from 144 in May 2024 to 126 in May 2025. Notably, the 16-20 age group saw a decrease of 11 persons involved, dropping from 22 to 11, while the 21-25 age group experienced an increase of 10 persons involved, rising from 11 to 21. Among vehicle makes, Toyota, Ford, and Chevrolet all saw decreases in their involvement counts.

Top Vehicle Makes (106 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA18 (17%)
-14.3%prior 21
2
FORD10 (9.4%)
-37.5%prior 16
3
HONDA10 (9.4%)
0.0%prior 10
4
CHEVROLET9 (8.5%)
-25.0%prior 12
5
SUBARU8 (7.5%)
60.0%prior 5
6
JEEP7 (6.6%)
40.0%prior 5
7
NISSAN6 (5.7%)
-40.0%prior 10
8
AUDI5 (4.7%)
9
HYUNDAI5 (4.7%)
-44.4%prior 9
10
RAM4 (3.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (122 persons with recorded sex)

Male73 (59.8%)
-7.6%prior 79
Female49 (40.2%)
-9.3%prior 54

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones decreased from 20 in May 2024 to 16 in May 2025, while crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 21 to 16. There were no fatal crashes reported in any speed zone during either period. The 65 mph speed zone saw a slight increase in crashes, rising from 3 to 4 incidents.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: BELLINGHAM, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 54
  • Total persons involved: 126
  • Total vehicles involved: 106

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: May 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/bellingham/may-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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Bellingham, MA Crash Report — May 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com