ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · MAY 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/may-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
537 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
MAY 2024
Total crashes in Boston increased by 1.7%, from 528 in May 2023 to 537 in May 2024. Despite stable fatality counts, total injuries rose by 28.96%, from 183 to 236. The most notable year-over-year shift was the significant increase in total injuries.
537
▲ 1.7%was 528
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
236
▲ 29.0%was 183
Persons Injured
65
▼ -7.1%was 70
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. 10 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash data for May shows a slight increase in total crashes, rising by 1.7% from 528 to 537. While total fatalities remained stable at 1 for both periods, total injuries increased by 28.96%, indicating an upward trend in injury severity outcomes.
65
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2024
▼ -7.1% vs prior (70)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased from 70 in May 2023 to 65 in May 2024, representing a 7.1% decrease in count. The hit-and-run rate also saw a downward trend, decreasing from 13.3% to 12.1% year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
7
Pedestrians Injured
9
Cyclists Injured
215
Motorists Injured
5
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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 Monday with 94 incidents in May 2023 to Thursday with 114 incidents in May 2024. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes changed from 6 PM with 35 incidents in the prior period to 3 PM with 50 incidents in the current period.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate remained constant at 0.19% in both May 2023 and May 2024, with one fatal crash recorded in each period. However, total injuries increased from 183 to 236, a 28.96% rise. Serious injuries decreased from 15 to 13, while minor injuries increased from 91 to 107, and possible injuries saw a 38.9% increase, rising from 36 to 50.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' increased from 92 to 101 crashes, a 9.8% increase in count, making it the most frequent factor in May 2024. 'Followed too closely' decreased from 87 to 69 crashes, a 20.7% decrease in count, shifting its ranking. 'Driving too fast for conditions' saw a substantial 90.9% increase in count, rising from 11 to 21 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a notable shift towards crashes occurring in adverse conditions. Crashes on wet road surfaces increased from 52 to 81, a 55.8% increase in count, while crashes in rainy weather rose from 38 to 62, a 63.2% increase in count. Conversely, crashes in clear weather decreased from 403 to 367, and crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 427 to 373.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top vehicle makes involved in crashes remained Toyota, Honda, and Ford in both periods, though all saw slight decreases in counts. Toyota-involved crashes decreased from 191 to 185, Honda from 162 to 158, and Ford from 123 to 112. Regarding demographics, persons aged 0-15 involved in crashes decreased significantly from 52 to 20, a 61.5% reduction, while persons aged 26-34 increased from 245 to 298, and those aged 65 and older increased from 82 to 112.
Top Vehicle Makes (1,088 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
191 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (1,139 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 25 mph zones remained stable, decreasing slightly from 189 to 186. Crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 46 to 39, with no fatal crashes in this zone in the current period compared to one in the prior period. Crashes in 45 mph zones decreased from 67 to 66, but a fatal crash occurred in this zone in the current period, where none had occurred previously. Crashes in 55 mph zones increased from 54 to 69.
Fatal crashes by zone: 45 mph: 1 of 66 (1.515%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 537
- Total persons involved: 1,355
- Total vehicles involved: 1,088
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: May 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/may-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: 2024-05-01 – 2024-05-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved