ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · APRIL 2023
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/april-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
477 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
APRIL 2023
In April 2023, BOSTON experienced 477 crashes, an increase from the 459 crashes recorded in April 2022, representing a 3.92% rise year-over-year. The most notable shift was a significant increase in total injuries, which rose by 73.15% from 108 in April 2022 to 187 in April 2023.
477
▲ 3.9%was 459
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
187
▲ 73.1%was 108
Persons Injured
65
▲ 51.2%was 43
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 19 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents in BOSTON showed an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 3.92% from 459 in April 2022 to 477 in April 2023. This rise was accompanied by a substantial 73.15% increase in total injuries, from 108 to 187.
65
Hit-and-Run Crashes — April 2023
▲ 51.2% vs prior (43)
Hit-and-run crashes increased significantly year-over-year, rising by 51.16% from 43 incidents in April 2022 to 65 incidents in April 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also trended upward, increasing by 4.2 percentage points from 9.4% to 13.6% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
10
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
176
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · 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 April 2022, with 94 incidents, to Sunday in April 2023, with 91 incidents. The peak hour remained consistent in the afternoon, with 33 crashes at 5 p.m. in April 2022 and 35 crashes at 4 p.m. in April 2023.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate remained stable, with 1 fatality in both periods, resulting in a slight decrease from 0.22% in April 2022 to 0.21% in April 2023. However, serious injuries (code 'A') increased by 100%, from 5 to 10, while minor injuries (code 'B') rose by 64.58%, from 48 to 79. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury (code 'O') also increased from 42.9% to 67.3%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' saw an 81.6% increase in count, from 49 in April 2022 to 89 in April 2023, making it the most frequent factor. 'Failed to yield right of way' also saw a substantial 95.8% increase in count, from 24 to 47 crashes. Conversely, 'Followed too closely' decreased by 10.7% in count, from 75 to 67 crashes, and 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' decreased by 9.1% in count, from 22 to 20 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 337 in April 2022 to 313 in April 2023. Conversely, crashes in rainy conditions increased from 49 to 57, and those on wet road surfaces rose from 59 to 82. Incidents during dark-lighted roadway conditions increased by 13, from 143 to 156.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Toyota remained the top vehicle make involved in crashes, though its count decreased from 188 to 177. Honda saw a significant 37.39% increase in involvement, from 115 to 158, while Ford's involvement decreased by 11.76%, from 102 to 90. All age groups experienced an increase in persons involved in crashes, with the 26-34 age group showing the largest rise of 72.9%, from 155 to 268 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (965 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Vehicle unit records
168 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (997 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased slightly from 160 in April 2022 to 165 in April 2023, with the fatal crash rate in this zone remaining similar (0.625% to 0.606%). Crashes in the 55 mph zone saw a 14.29% increase, from 49 to 56 incidents. No fatal crashes were reported in speed zones other than 25 mph during either period.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 165 (0.606%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · 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: 2023-04-01 through 2023-04-30
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-04-01 through 2023-04-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 477
- Total persons involved: 1,194
- Total vehicles involved: 965
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: April 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/april-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-04-01 – 2023-04-30
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved