ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · MARCH 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/march-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
469 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
MARCH 2022
In March 2022, Boston experienced 469 crashes, a significant increase of 60.07% compared to the 293 crashes recorded in March 2021. Despite the rise in overall crashes, total fatalities decreased by 80%, from 5 in the prior period to 1 in the current period. The most notable shift was the substantial 134.78% increase in hit-and-run crashes, rising from 23 to 54 incidents.
469
▲ 60.1%was 293
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -80.0%was 5
Persons Killed
100
▲ 42.9%was 70
Persons Injured
54
▲ 134.8%was 23
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. 193 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash data for March 2022 indicates a substantial upward trend in crash frequency, with total crashes rising by 60.07% year-over-year from 293 to 469. Total injuries also increased by 42.86%, from 70 to 100. Conversely, total fatalities saw a significant decrease of 80%, falling from 5 to 1.
54
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2022
▲ 134.8% vs prior (23)
Hit-and-run crashes increased significantly year-over-year, rising by 134.78% in count from 23 to 54 incidents. The hit-and-run rate also saw an upward trend, increasing from 7.8% of all crashes in March 2021 to 11.5% in March 2022.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
13
Pedestrians Injured
2
Cyclists Injured
85
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · 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 year-over-year. In March 2022, the peak day for crashes was Saturday with 72 incidents, while in March 2021, Monday was the peak day with 48 crashes. The peak hour also changed, moving from 3 PM with 24 crashes in the prior period to 4 PM with 31 crashes in the current period.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity distributions show a notable decrease in the fatal crash rate, which dropped from 1.71% in March 2021 to 0.21% in March 2022. While total injuries increased by 42.86% (from 70 to 100), the proportion of serious injuries (code A) decreased from 1% to 0.2% of all crashes. Minor injuries (code B) saw a slight decrease in proportion from 13% to 12.2%, and possible injuries (code C) remained stable at 4.4% in the prior period and 4.3% in the current period.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor, 'Followed too closely,' decreased in count from 71 crashes in March 2021 to 54 crashes in March 2022, representing a 23.9% reduction. Conversely, 'Driving too fast for conditions' saw a 150% increase in count, rising from 4 to 10 crashes. 'Other improper action' also increased significantly by 75% in count, from 8 to 14 crashes, while 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' decreased by 47.4% in count, from 19 to 10 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Rain' conditions saw a substantial 470% increase in count, rising from 10 incidents in March 2021 to 57 in March 2022. Similarly, crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces increased by 321.1% in count, from 19 to 80. Crashes occurring in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions nearly doubled, increasing by 93.5% in count from 92 to 178.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 57.7% year-over-year, from 587 to 926. While Toyota and Honda remained the top two vehicle makes involved, the age group 0-15 saw a 66.7% decrease in persons involved, from 21 to 7. Conversely, the 16-20 age group experienced a 31.7% increase in persons involved, rising from 41 to 54.
Top Vehicle Makes (926 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
452 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (574 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes occurring in 25 mph speed zones saw a substantial 186.7% increase in count, rising from 60 in March 2021 to 172 in March 2022. Despite this increase, the fatal crash rate in 25 mph zones decreased from 5% to 0.581%. Crashes in 55 mph speed zones decreased slightly by 6% in count, from 50 to 47, and the fatal crash count in this zone dropped from 1 to 0.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 172 (0.581%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31 · 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: 2022-03-01 through 2022-03-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-03-01 through 2022-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 469
- Total persons involved: 1,052
- Total vehicles involved: 926
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: March 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2022-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/march-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: 2022-03-01 – 2022-03-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved