Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

5,691 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

Total crashes in Boston decreased by 4.72% from 5,973 in 2023 to 5,691 in 2024. Despite this overall decrease, total fatalities saw a significant increase of 42.11%, rising from 19 in 2023 to 27 in 2024. This notable increase in fatalities is the most critical shift observed year-over-year.

5,691

▼ -4.7%was 5,973

Total Crash Events

▲ 42.1%was 19

Persons Killed

2,278

▼ -2.7%was 2,341

Persons Injured

787

▼ -3.0%was 811

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (27) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (25) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 189 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in Boston decreased by 4.72%, from 5,973 in 2023 to 5,691 in 2024. While total injuries saw a slight decrease of 2.69% (from 2,341 to 2,278), total fatalities increased by 42.11%, rising from 19 in 2023 to 27 in 2024. This indicates a concerning trend of fewer crashes but more severe outcomes.

787

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024

▼ -3.0% vs prior (811)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased by 24 incidents (a 2.96% reduction), from 811 in 2023 to 787 in 2024. Despite this decrease in count, the hit-and-run crash rate slightly increased from 13.6% in 2023 to 13.8% in 2024. This indicates that while fewer hit-and-run crashes occurred, they represent a slightly larger proportion of total crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 8↑50.0%

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1→0.0%

Motorists Killed

Prior: 10↑10.0%

Other Killed

Prior: 0→%

138

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 149↓-7.4%

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 70↑35.7%

2,009

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2,107↓-4.7%

Other Injured

Prior: 15↑140.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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 Sunday in 2023 (903 crashes) to Saturday in 2024 (879 crashes), though both days saw a decrease in crash counts. The peak hour for crashes also shifted, moving from 4 PM in 2023 (372 crashes) to 3 PM in 2024 (368 crashes), with both peak hours experiencing a slight reduction in crash incidents.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The fatal crash rate increased from 0.3% in 2023 to 0.4% in 2024, with the number of fatal crashes rising from 18 to 25. Serious injury crashes (severity A) saw a slight increase from 126 (2.1% share) to 129 (2.3% share). Minor injury crashes (severity B) decreased from 1,045 (17.5% share) to 1,018 (17.9% share), while possible injury crashes (severity C) increased from 548 (9.2% share) to 563 (9.9% share).

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 25 fatal crash events resulted in 27 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal25fatal crashes0.4%

↑38.9%prior 18

Serious Injury129serious injury crashes2.3%

↑2.4%prior 126

Minor Injury1,018minor injury crashes17.9%

↓-2.6%prior 1,045

Possible Injury563possible injury crashes9.9%

↑2.7%prior 548

No Injury3,767no injury crashes66.2%

↓-4.9%prior 3,963

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor, "No improper driving," decreased by 168 crashes (a 15.47% reduction) from 1,086 in 2023 to 918 in 2024. "Followed too closely" also saw a decrease of 77 crashes (an 8.97% reduction), moving from 858 to 781 crashes. "Failed to yield right of way" decreased by 70 crashes (a 13.08% reduction), from 535 to 465 crashes, maintaining its position as the third most frequent factor.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving918 (16.1%)↓-15.5%prior 1,086

Followed too closely781 (13.7%)↓-9.0%prior 858

Failed to yield right of way465 (8.2%)↓-13.1%prior 535

Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings290 (5.1%)↑1.4%prior 286

Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road269 (4.7%)↑0.4%prior 268

Inattention231 (4.1%)↓-13.5%prior 267

Driving too fast for conditions200 (3.5%)↑5.8%prior 189

Other improper action179 (3.1%)↓-5.3%prior 189

Made an improper turn161 (2.8%)↓-4.2%prior 168

Exceeded authorized speed limit161 (2.8%)↓-8.0%prior 175

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions decreased by 323 incidents (an 8.15% reduction) from 3,962 in 2023 to 3,639 in 2024. Crashes during "Daylight" conditions decreased by 111 incidents (a 3.58% reduction) from 3,102 to 2,991. Similarly, crashes on "Dry" road surfaces decreased by 217 incidents (a 5.12% reduction) from 4,237 to 4,020.

Weather

Clear3,639 (70.7%)

↓-8.2%prior 3,962

Rain501 (9.7%)

↓-26.8%prior 684

Cloudy405 (7.9%)

↓-12.1%prior 461

Clear/Clear306 (5.9%)

↑6020.0%prior 5

Cloudy/Rain71 (1.4%)

↓-42.3%prior 123

Snow47 (0.9%)

↓-9.6%prior 52

Rain/Rain31 (0.6%)

Rain/Cloudy25 (0.5%)

↑127.3%prior 11

Clear/Cloudy17 (0.3%)

↓-15.0%prior 20

Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)17 (0.3%)

↓-48.5%prior 33

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2,991 (56.8%)

↓-3.6%prior 3,102

Dark - lighted roadway1,892 (35.9%)

↓-12.1%prior 2,152

Dawn133 (2.5%)

↑13.7%prior 117

Dusk123 (2.3%)

↓-8.2%prior 134

Dark - roadway not lighted62 (1.2%)

↑1.6%prior 61

Dark - unknown roadway lighting40 (0.8%)

→0.0%prior 40

Other24 (0.5%)

↑26.3%prior 19

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry4,020 (82.9%)

↓-5.1%prior 4,237

Wet736 (15.2%)

↓-27.1%prior 1,009

Snow40 (0.8%)

↑42.9%prior 28

Ice29 (0.6%)

↓-9.4%prior 32

Slush9 (0.2%)

↓-47.1%prior 17

Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel6 (0.1%)

Other6 (0.1%)

Water (standing, moving)3 (0.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 4.28%, from 11,822 in 2023 to 11,316 in 2024. The top vehicle makes involved remained consistent, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford leading in both years. Regarding persons involved, the 0-15 age group saw a decrease from 360 to 247, while the 35-44 age group experienced a slight increase from 2,317 to 2,383.

Top Vehicle Makes (11,316 vehicles)

TOYOTA2,119 (18.7%)

↓-2.1%prior 2,165

HONDA1,713 (15.1%)

↓-5.5%prior 1,813

FORD1,129 (10%)

↓-5.8%prior 1,198

NISSAN667 (5.9%)

↓-6.2%prior 711

CHEVROLET566 (5%)

↓-11.1%prior 637

JEEP519 (4.6%)

↓-3.7%prior 539

HYUNDAI342 (3%)

↓-4.7%prior 359

SUBARU334 (3%)

↓-0.6%prior 336

BMW279 (2.5%)

↓-4.5%prior 292

KIA265 (2.3%)

↑2.7%prior 258

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

1,903 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (11,700 persons with recorded sex)

Male7,431 (63.5%)

↓-2.5%prior 7,618

Female4,266 (36.5%)

↓-5.4%prior 4,509

X / Unspecified3 (0.0%)

→0.0%prior 3

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph zones decreased by 246 incidents (an 11.76% reduction) from 2,092 in 2023 to 1,846 in 2024, but the fatal rate in these zones significantly increased from 0.621% to 1.029%. Crashes in 45 mph zones decreased by 138 incidents (an 18.80% reduction) from 734 to 596, while the fatal rate in these zones more than doubled from 0.136% to 0.336%. Crashes in 35 mph zones saw a slight increase of 7 incidents (a 1.35% increase) from 519 to 526, with the fatal rate rising from 0.193% to 0.38%.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 19 of 1,846 (1.029%) · 30 mph: 1 of 360 (0.278%) · 35 mph: 2 of 526 (0.38%) · 40 mph: 1 of 112 (0.893%) · 45 mph: 2 of 596 (0.336%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
Total crash records analyzed: 5,691
Total persons involved: 13,856
Total vehicles involved: 11,316

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: 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/2024-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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5,691 CRASHES INBOSTON, MA2024