Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

464 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
FEBRUARY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2021

Total crashes in Boston increased significantly from 267 in February 2021 to 464 in February 2022, marking a 73.8% rise. This substantial increase in overall crash volume is the most notable year-over-year shift, despite a decrease in total fatalities from 2 to 0 during the same period.

464

73.8%was 267

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 2

Persons Killed

129

111.5%was 61

Persons Injured

48

65.5%was 29

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 93 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a substantial increase in crash activity year-over-year, with total crashes rising by 73.8% from 267 to 464. Concurrently, total injuries also saw a significant increase, more than doubling from 61 to 129, representing a 111.5% rise.

48

Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2022

65.5% vs prior (29)

The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 29 in February 2021 to 48 in February 2022. Despite this increase in count, the overall hit-and-run rate slightly decreased from 10.9% of total crashes in the prior period to 10.3% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-100.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

16

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 4300.0%

112

Motorists Injured

Prior: 5796.5%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday in February 2021, with 46 incidents, to Saturday in February 2022, which recorded 82 incidents. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes changed from 2 PM with 23 incidents in the prior period to 3 PM with 35 incidents in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities decreased from 2 in February 2021 to 0 in February 2022, resulting in a fatal crash rate reduction from 0.37% to 0%. Total injuries, however, increased from 61 to 129, with serious injuries rising from 1 to 3, minor injuries from 26 to 61, and possible injuries from 16 to 40.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes0.6%
200.0%prior 1
Minor Injury61minor injury crashes13.1%
134.6%prior 26
Possible Injury40possible injury crashes8.6%
150.0%prior 16
No Injury267no injury crashes57.5%
61.8%prior 165

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factors saw increases in crash counts year-over-year. 'No improper driving' increased from 51 crashes to 82 crashes, while 'Followed too closely' rose from 40 crashes to 59 crashes. 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased from 24 crashes to 17 crashes, causing it to fall out of the top three factors in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving82 (17.7%)60.8%prior 51
Followed too closely59 (12.7%)47.5%prior 40
Driving too fast for conditions19 (4.1%)46.2%prior 13
Failed to yield right of way17 (3.7%)-29.2%prior 24
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road17 (3.7%)21.4%prior 14
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings16 (3.4%)14.3%prior 14
Other improper action16 (3.4%)60.0%prior 10
Exceeded authorized speed limit14 (3%)133.3%prior 6
Inattention12 (2.6%)-25.0%prior 16
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner12 (2.6%)71.4%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 162 to 308, and those on dry road surfaces rose from 191 to 281. There was a notable increase in crashes on wet roads, from 37 to 87, and on icy roads, which jumped from 2 to 25. Crashes in dark-lighted roadway conditions also saw a significant increase, from 106 to 208.

Weather

Clear308 (68.4%)
90.1%prior 162
Cloudy47 (10.4%)
123.8%prior 21
Snow29 (6.4%)
-12.1%prior 33
Rain28 (6.2%)
180.0%prior 10
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)14 (3.1%)
Other7 (1.6%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)4 (0.9%)
Cloudy/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)3 (0.7%)
Blowing sand, snow2 (0.4%)
Cloudy/Snow1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight218 (48.0%)
59.1%prior 137
Dark - lighted roadway208 (45.8%)
96.2%prior 106
Dawn10 (2.2%)
66.7%prior 6
Dark - roadway not lighted7 (1.5%)
Dusk5 (1.1%)
-54.5%prior 11
Dark - unknown roadway lighting5 (1.1%)
Other1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry281 (63.9%)
47.1%prior 191
Wet87 (19.8%)
135.1%prior 37
Snow31 (7.0%)
0.0%prior 31
Ice25 (5.7%)
Slush11 (2.5%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel4 (0.9%)
Other1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 526 to 906 year-over-year. Toyota, Honda, and Ford remained the top three vehicle makes involved in crashes, with their respective counts increasing in the current period. The age group 26-34 continued to be the most represented among persons involved, increasing from 138 to 214.

Top Vehicle Makes (906 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA176 (19.4%)
114.6%prior 82
2
HONDA152 (16.8%)
87.7%prior 81
3
FORD82 (9.1%)
74.5%prior 47
4
NISSAN54 (6%)
38.5%prior 39
5
JEEP46 (5.1%)
84.0%prior 25
6
CHEVROLET46 (5.1%)
17.9%prior 39
7
BMW30 (3.3%)
328.6%prior 7
8
HYUNDAI30 (3.3%)
57.9%prior 19
9
SUBARU25 (2.8%)
31.6%prior 19
10
ACURA23 (2.5%)
109.1%prior 11

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Vehicle unit records

301 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (802 persons with recorded sex)

Male484 (60.3%)
41.1%prior 343
Female318 (39.7%)
80.7%prior 176

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones experienced a substantial increase, rising from 47 to 164. The only fatal crash in the prior period occurred in a 25 mph zone, while no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone in the current period. Crashes in both 45 mph and 55 mph zones also increased, from 46 to 57 and from 50 to 58, respectively.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · 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: 2022-02-01 through 2022-02-28
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-02-01 through 2022-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 464
  • Total persons involved: 1,123
  • Total vehicles involved: 906

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: February 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/february-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

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Boston, MA Crash Report — February 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com