Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

544 CRASHES IN
BILLERICA, MA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In 2022, Billerica recorded 544 total vehicle crashes, a 22.3% increase from the 445 crashes reported in 2021. This year-over-year analysis shows a rise in most key metrics, including a 26.5% increase in persons injured and a doubling of fatalities from one to two. The most notable shift was a 100% increase in hit-and-run incidents, which rose from 12 in 2021 to 24 in 2022.

544

22.2%was 445

Total Crash Events

2

100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

191

26.5%was 151

Persons Injured

24

100.0%was 12

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 6 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic safety metrics in Billerica show a worsening trend from 2021 to 2022. The total number of crashes increased by 22.3%, rising from 445 to 544. In parallel, the number of individuals injured in these incidents grew by 26.5% to 191, and total fatalities increased from one to two.

24

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022

100.0% vs prior (12)

Hit-and-run incidents showed a significant upward trend. The absolute number of hit-and-run crashes doubled, increasing from 12 in 2021 to 24 in 2022. As a result, the hit-and-run rate, which measures the proportion of all crashes that are hit-and-runs, increased from 2.7% to 4.4%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 10.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 3-66.7%

3

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 250.0%

187

Motorists Injured

Prior: 14628.1%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2022, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 94 incidents, a change from Tuesday (77 incidents) in 2021. The peak hour for collisions also moved earlier in the day, from the 4 p.m. hour in 2021 (45 crashes) to the 2 p.m. hour in 2022 (50 crashes).

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity of crashes increased from 2021 to 2022, with the fatal crash rate rising from 0.22% to 0.37%. While the overall share of crashes involving any type of injury remained stable at around 27%, the composition of those injuries changed. The proportion of crashes resulting in 'Possible Injury' increased from 10.6% to 14.2% of all incidents, while the shares of 'Serious Injury' and 'Minor Injury' crashes decreased slightly.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal2fatal crashes0.4%
100.0%prior 1
Serious Injury6serious injury crashes1.1%
-25.0%prior 8
Minor Injury65minor injury crashes11.9%
4.8%prior 62
Possible Injury77possible injury crashes14.2%
63.8%prior 47
No Injury388no injury crashes71.3%
20.9%prior 321

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

While 'Failed to yield right of way' remained the top contributing factor in both years with a nearly unchanged count (78 in 2021 vs. 77 in 2022), other driver behaviors saw notable increases. Crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' grew by 32.6% from 46 to 61 incidents. The count for 'Inattention' as a factor rose by 63.3% from 30 to 49 crashes, making it the third most-cited factor in 2022.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving106 (19.5%)14.0%prior 93
Failed to yield right of way77 (14.2%)-1.3%prior 78
Followed too closely61 (11.2%)32.6%prior 46
Inattention49 (9%)63.3%prior 30
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road46 (8.5%)39.4%prior 33
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings28 (5.1%)12.0%prior 25
Driving too fast for conditions23 (4.2%)27.8%prior 18
Distracted14 (2.6%)180.0%prior 5
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway11 (2%)22.2%prior 9
Exceeded authorized speed limit11 (2%)-31.3%prior 16

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

While most crashes in both years occurred in daylight on dry roads, there was a significant increase in incidents on adverse road surfaces. The number of crashes on icy roads doubled, rising from 13 in 2021 to 26 in 2022. Collisions on wet roads also increased from 70 to 83, and those on snowy roads grew from 11 to 18.

Weather

Clear275 (52.0%)
95.0%prior 141
Clear/Clear95 (18.0%)
-38.7%prior 155
Cloudy42 (7.9%)
35.5%prior 31
Rain30 (5.7%)
114.3%prior 14
Cloudy/Rain19 (3.6%)
90.0%prior 10
Cloudy/Cloudy14 (2.6%)
-44.0%prior 25
Snow9 (1.7%)
-10.0%prior 10
Rain/Cloudy8 (1.5%)
33.3%prior 6
Snow/Snow6 (1.1%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)4 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight371 (68.2%)
21.6%prior 305
Dark - lighted roadway100 (18.4%)
35.1%prior 74
Dark - roadway not lighted39 (7.2%)
5.4%prior 37
Dusk17 (3.1%)
6.3%prior 16
Dawn10 (1.8%)
42.9%prior 7
Dark - unknown roadway lighting5 (0.9%)
-16.7%prior 6
Other2 (0.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry399 (75.6%)
17.7%prior 339
Wet83 (15.7%)
18.6%prior 70
Ice26 (4.9%)
100.0%prior 13
Snow18 (3.4%)
63.6%prior 11
Slush1 (0.2%)
Water (standing, moving)1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Honda, and Ford—remained consistent, with Toyota vehicle involvements increasing from 126 to 197. Analysis of persons involved reveals significant growth in specific age groups, with the number of individuals aged 65 and older increasing by 69.0% (from 87 to 147) and those in the 0-15 age group increasing by 88.2% (from 51 to 96).

Top Vehicle Makes (1,016 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA197 (19.4%)
56.3%prior 126
2
HONDA121 (11.9%)
4.3%prior 116
3
FORD115 (11.3%)
33.7%prior 86
4
CHEVROLET84 (8.3%)
0.0%prior 84
5
NISSAN55 (5.4%)
31.0%prior 42
6
JEEP35 (3.4%)
2.9%prior 34
7
HYUNDAI33 (3.2%)
13.8%prior 29
8
GMC29 (2.9%)
45.0%prior 20
9
SUBARU28 (2.8%)
7.7%prior 26
10
DODGE26 (2.6%)
36.8%prior 19

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,201 persons with recorded sex)

Male707 (58.9%)
29.3%prior 547
Female494 (41.1%)
32.4%prior 373

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted year-over-year. Incidents in 55 mph zones increased from 62 to 78, while crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 193 to 171. The single fatality in 2021 occurred in a 35 mph zone, whereas the two fatalities in 2022 were recorded in 30 mph and 55 mph zones.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 171 (0.585%) · 55 mph: 1 of 78 (1.282%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: BILLERICA, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 544
  • Total persons involved: 1,286
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,016

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). "BILLERICA, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/billerica/2022-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

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Billerica, MA Crash Report — 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com