ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · 2022
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/boston/2022-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
5,744 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
2022
In 2022, Boston experienced a significant increase in total crashes, rising to 5744 from 4135 in 2021, representing a 38.9% increase. Despite this rise in crash incidents, total fatalities decreased from 32 in 2021 to 24 in 2022. However, total injuries saw an increase from 1037 in 2021 to 1411 in 2022.
5,744
▲ 38.9%was 4,135
Total Crash Events
24
▼ -25.0%was 32
Persons Killed
1,411
▲ 36.1%was 1,037
Persons Injured
634
▲ 59.7%was 397
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (24) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (22) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 1,697 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
Overall, crash incidents in Boston increased significantly year-over-year, with total crashes rising by 1609, a 38.9% increase, from 2021 to 2022. Total injuries also increased by 374, a 36.1% rise, over the same period. Conversely, total fatalities decreased by 8, marking a 25% reduction.
634
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022
▲ 59.7% vs prior (397)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 397 in 2021 to 634 in 2022, representing an increase of 237 incidents. The hit-and-run crash rate also rose from 9.6% of all crashes in 2021 to 11% in 2022.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
12
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
11
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
134
Pedestrians Injured
64
Cyclists Injured
1,205
Motorists Injured
8
Other Injured
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 peak day for crashes shifted from Friday in 2021 (675 crashes) to Saturday in 2022 (910 crashes). The peak hour for crashes also shifted, occurring at 4 PM in 2021 (270 crashes) and 3 PM in 2022 (357 crashes). Overall crash counts increased across most days of the week and hours of the day.
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 total number of fatal crashes decreased from 30 in 2021 to 22 in 2022, resulting in a lower fatal crash rate of 0.38% in 2022 compared to 0.73% in 2021. Crashes resulting in serious injuries increased from 36 to 49, while minor injury crashes rose from 473 to 666. The proportion of crashes with no injury decreased from a 63% share in 2021 to a 51.2% share in 2022.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 22 fatal crash events resulted in 24 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
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
The top contributing factor, 'Followed too closely,' decreased in count from 790 in 2021 to 776 in 2022, causing its ranking to drop from first to second. 'No improper driving' saw a slight increase from 765 to 782, becoming the most frequent factor in 2022. Notably, crashes attributed to 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' increased by 54 incidents, from 127 in 2021 to 181 in 2022, while 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased by 51 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
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
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions increased by 1444, from 2680 in 2021 to 4124 in 2022, though their share of total crashes decreased from 64.8% to 71.8%. The proportion of crashes under adverse weather conditions (Rain, Snow, Sleet, Fog, Blowing sand) slightly decreased from a 12.16% share in 2021 to an 11.93% share in 2022. Similarly, the share of crashes on adverse road surfaces (Wet, Snow, Ice, Slush, Sand/mud/dirt/oil/gravel, Water) decreased from 19.18% in 2021 to 17.30% in 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 8169 in 2021 to 11336 in 2022. Toyota, Honda, and Ford remained the top three vehicle makes involved in crashes in both periods, all showing increased counts year-over-year. The number of persons involved in crashes increased across all age groups, with the 45-54 age group seeing the largest numerical increase of 112 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (11,336 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
4,176 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (8,832 persons with recorded sex)
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
Crashes in 25 mph speed zones saw a substantial increase of 1200 incidents, rising from 742 in 2021 to 1942 in 2022. Despite this, the fatal crash rate for the 25 mph zone decreased from 1.752% to 0.669%. Conversely, crashes in 35 mph, 45 mph, and 55 mph speed zones all experienced slight decreases in count, with the 55 mph zone seeing its fatal crash rate increase from 0.667% to 0.853%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 13 of 1,942 (0.669%) · 35 mph: 1 of 584 (0.171%) · 55 mph: 6 of 703 (0.853%)
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: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 5,744
- Total persons involved: 13,310
- Total vehicles involved: 11,336
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). "BOSTON, 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/boston/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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2022-01-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved