ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · AUGUST 2024
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-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
444 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
AUGUST 2024
Total crashes in Boston decreased by 10.3% from 495 in August 2023 to 444 in August 2024. Despite the overall reduction in crashes, total fatalities increased significantly from 0 in the prior period to 3 in the current period, representing the most notable year-over-year shift.
444
▼ -10.3%was 495
Total Crash Events
3
Persons Killed
174
▼ -19.1%was 215
Persons Injured
64
▼ -9.9%was 71
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 15 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crashes in Boston showed a downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing by 10.3% from 495 to 444. Similarly, total injuries decreased by 19.1% from 215 in August 2023 to 174 in August 2024. However, total fatalities increased from 0 to 3 during the same period.
64
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2024
▼ -9.9% vs prior (71)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 71 in August 2023 to 64 in August 2024. Despite this reduction in count, the hit-and-run crash rate slightly increased from 14.3% to 14.4% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
4
Pedestrians Injured
7
Cyclists Injured
162
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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 Friday with 76 crashes in August 2023 to Saturday with 78 crashes in August 2024. The peak crash hour also changed, moving from 4 PM with 41 crashes in the prior year to 5 PM with 31 crashes in the current year. Crashes occurring at 4 PM saw a decrease from 41 to 25, while crashes at 5 PM decreased from 34 to 31.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes increased from 0 in August 2023 to 3 in August 2024, raising the fatal crash rate from 0% to 0.7%. Serious injury crashes saw a substantial decrease, falling from 19 (3.8% of crashes) to 2 (0.5% of crashes). Minor injury crashes remained constant at 86, though their share of total crashes increased from 17.4% to 19.4%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The count of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased by 22% from 91 to 71. Crashes due to 'Followed too closely' also decreased by 16.7%, from 72 to 60. Conversely, crashes where 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' was a factor increased by 35.7% in count, rising from 14 to 19, and its ranking among factors moved from ninth to sixth.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 360 to 327, while those in 'Rain' decreased from 45 to 35. Crashes during 'Daylight' hours decreased from 308 to 271, and crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces decreased from 395 to 332. Crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces also saw a reduction from 54 to 42, indicating a general decrease across most reported conditions proportional to the overall crash reduction.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 10.2%, from 991 in August 2023 to 890 in August 2024. The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained Toyota, Honda, and Ford, though their individual counts decreased year-over-year. For instance, Toyota involvement decreased from 176 to 170, Honda from 162 to 139, and Ford from 103 to 90.
Top Vehicle Makes (890 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
124 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (940 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 25 mph zones decreased from 182 to 148, but fatalities in these zones increased from 0 to 2, resulting in a 1.351% fatal rate. Similarly, 30 mph zones saw a decrease in crashes from 31 to 23, but fatalities rose from 0 to 1, leading to a 4.348% fatal rate in this zone. Crashes in 55 mph zones experienced a slight increase from 56 to 59.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 2 of 148 (1.351%) · 30 mph: 1 of 23 (4.348%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 444
- Total persons involved: 1,084
- Total vehicles involved: 890
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 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/august-2024-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: 2024-08-01 – 2024-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved