ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · AUGUST 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/august-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
498 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
AUGUST 2022
In August 2022, Boston recorded 498 crashes, marking a 37.2% increase from the 363 crashes reported in August 2021. Despite this rise in overall incidents, total fatalities saw a notable decrease, falling from 4 in the prior period to 1 in the current period. This significant reduction in fatalities represents a 75% decrease year-over-year.
498
▲ 37.2%was 363
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -75.0%was 4
Persons Killed
88
▼ -7.4%was 95
Persons Injured
55
▲ 66.7%was 33
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. 210 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents in Boston increased year-over-year, rising from 363 crashes in August 2021 to 498 crashes in August 2022, representing a 37.2% increase. Conversely, total fatalities decreased substantially by 75%, from 4 to 1, while total injuries also saw a 7.4% reduction, from 95 to 88.
55
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2022
▲ 66.7% vs prior (33)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 66.7%, from 33 in August 2021 to 55 in August 2022. Concurrently, the hit-and-run rate rose from 9.1% of all crashes in the prior period to 11% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
9
Pedestrians Injured
9
Cyclists Injured
70
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · 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 Thursday in August 2021 (65 crashes) to Friday, Monday, and Tuesday in August 2022 (79 crashes each). The peak hour for crashes remained consistently at 5 PM across both periods, increasing from 27 crashes in August 2021 to 35 crashes in August 2022.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate decreased significantly from 1.1% in August 2021 (4 fatalities) to 0.2% in August 2022 (1 fatality). While minor injury crashes decreased in proportion from 9.6% to 8.8% and possible injury crashes from 10.2% to 3.8%, serious injury crashes increased from 0.6% (2 crashes) to 1.4% (7 crashes) year-over-year.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The count of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased by 22.4%, from 67 in August 2021 to 52 in August 2022. 'Followed too closely' also saw a decrease in count by 13.6%, from 66 to 57, while 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased by 28.6% from 35 to 25. Notably, 'Driving too fast for conditions' saw a substantial 76.2% decrease in count, falling from 21 to 5 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions increased from 232 in August 2021 to 409 in August 2022, while crashes during 'Rain' decreased from 35 to 31. Similarly, incidents on 'Dry' road surfaces increased from 299 to 405, whereas those on 'Wet' surfaces decreased from 57 to 34. Crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions increased from 230 to 308, and those in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 106 to 129.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 32.8%, from 737 in August 2021 to 979 in August 2022. Among vehicle makes, Toyota, Honda, and Ford consistently ranked as the top three, all showing an increase in involvement. The age group 21-25 saw a decrease in person count from 159 to 92, while the 45-54 age group experienced a slight increase from 92 to 95.
Top Vehicle Makes (979 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
471 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (569 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes occurring in 25 mph speed zones saw a substantial increase, rising from 66 in August 2021 to 175 in August 2022, and this zone recorded 1 fatal crash in the current period compared to none prior. Crashes in 55 mph zones increased slightly from 67 to 69, but the fatal rate in this zone decreased from 1 fatal crash in August 2021 to 0 in August 2022.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 175 (0.571%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · 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: 2022-08-01 through 2022-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-08-01 through 2022-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 498
- Total persons involved: 1,069
- Total vehicles involved: 979
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: August 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/august-2022-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: 2022-08-01 – 2022-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved