Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

458 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
JULY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2023

Total crashes in BOSTON, MA decreased by 11.07% from 515 in July 2023 to 458 in July 2024. The most significant shift was the absence of crash fatalities in July 2024, compared to 4 fatalities in the same month of the prior year.

458

-11.1%was 515

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 4

Persons Killed

194

-17.8%was 236

Persons Injured

74

-1.3%was 75

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. 11 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in BOSTON, MA showed a declining trend year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 11.07%, from 515 in July 2023 to 458 in July 2024, and total injuries also fell by 17.79%, from 236 to 194.

74

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2024

-1.3% vs prior (75)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained nearly constant, with 75 incidents in July 2023 and 74 in July 2024. However, the hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of total crashes, increased from 14.6% in July 2023 to 16.2% in July 2024.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3-100.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 12-75.0%

10

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 14-28.6%

178

Motorists Injured

Prior: 208-14.4%

3

Other Injured

Prior: 250.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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 Saturday in July 2023, with 92 incidents, to Wednesday in July 2024, with 87 incidents. The peak hour also changed, moving from 3 PM with 39 crashes in July 2023 to 4 PM with 35 crashes in July 2024.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes decreased significantly from 4 in July 2023 to 0 in July 2024, leading to a fatal crash rate reduction from 0.78% to 0%. While minor injuries saw a decrease from 126 to 91, serious injuries increased slightly from 12 to 14.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury14serious injury crashes3.1%
16.7%prior 12
Minor Injury91minor injury crashes19.9%
-27.8%prior 126
Possible Injury50possible injury crashes10.9%
38.9%prior 36
No Injury292no injury crashes63.8%
-4.3%prior 305

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The count of 'No improper driving' as a contributing factor decreased from 90 in July 2023 to 71 in July 2024. Conversely, 'Followed too closely' incidents increased from 61 to 69, and 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' increased from 22 to 31.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving71 (15.5%)-21.1%prior 90
Followed too closely69 (15.1%)13.1%prior 61
Failed to yield right of way32 (7%)-17.9%prior 39
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road31 (6.8%)40.9%prior 22
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings30 (6.6%)30.4%prior 23
Inattention25 (5.5%)-7.4%prior 27
Other improper action16 (3.5%)23.1%prior 13
Made an improper turn13 (2.8%)-31.6%prior 19
Driving too fast for conditions9 (2%)-43.8%prior 16
Exceeded authorized speed limit7 (1.5%)-46.2%prior 13

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring on wet road surfaces saw a substantial decrease, dropping from 89 incidents in July 2023 to 28 in July 2024. Similarly, crashes during rainy weather conditions fell from 66 to 22. The number of crashes occurring in daylight conditions remained relatively stable, with 298 in July 2023 and 304 in July 2024.

Weather

Clear348 (82.7%)
1.2%prior 344
Cloudy39 (9.3%)
-2.5%prior 40
Rain22 (5.2%)
-66.7%prior 66
Clear/Clear8 (1.9%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (0.5%)
-77.8%prior 9
Fog, smog, smoke1 (0.2%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight304 (70.9%)
2.0%prior 298
Dark - lighted roadway94 (21.9%)
-34.7%prior 144
Dawn14 (3.3%)
27.3%prior 11
Dusk8 (1.9%)
-42.9%prior 14
Dark - roadway not lighted8 (1.9%)
33.3%prior 6
Other1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry371 (93.0%)
2.5%prior 362
Wet28 (7.0%)
-68.5%prior 89

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 974 in July 2023 to 916 in July 2024. The age distribution of persons involved showed a decrease in younger age groups, with those aged 0-15, 16-20, and 21-25 experiencing reductions of 18, 23, and 28 persons respectively.

Top Vehicle Makes (916 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA173 (18.9%)
-1.1%prior 175
2
HONDA149 (16.3%)
2.8%prior 145
3
FORD85 (9.3%)
-9.6%prior 94
4
CHEVROLET59 (6.4%)
1.7%prior 58
5
NISSAN52 (5.7%)
-11.9%prior 59
6
JEEP39 (4.3%)
-25.0%prior 52
7
BMW29 (3.2%)
11.5%prior 26
8
HYUNDAI23 (2.5%)
-8.0%prior 25
9
KIA20 (2.2%)
-20.0%prior 25
10
SUBARU19 (2.1%)
-44.1%prior 34

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (977 persons with recorded sex)

Male619 (63.4%)
-1.9%prior 631
Female358 (36.6%)
-6.8%prior 384

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones decreased from 182 in July 2023 to 141 in July 2024, while crashes in 55 mph zones increased from 55 to 63. Notably, there were 0 fatal crashes in any speed zone in July 2024, a decrease from 3 fatal crashes across 25 mph and 55 mph zones in July 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 458
  • Total persons involved: 1,155
  • Total vehicles involved: 916

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: July 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/july-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

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Boston, MA Crash Report — July 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com