ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · OCTOBER 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/october-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
538 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
OCTOBER 2022
Total crashes in October 2022 were 538, an increase of 22.27% from the 440 crashes reported in October 2021. The number of bicycle crashes saw the most significant proportional increase, rising from 3 in October 2021 to 6 in October 2022, representing a 100% increase.
538
▲ 22.3%was 440
Total Crash Events
5
▲ 25.0%was 4
Persons Killed
133
▲ 8.1%was 123
Persons Injured
54
▼ -1.8%was 55
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (5) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (4) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 188 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents show an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing from 440 in October 2021 to 538 in October 2022, a rise of 22.27%. Fatalities also increased from 4 to 5, while total injuries rose from 123 to 133.
54
Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2022
▼ -1.8% vs prior (55)
The number of hit-and-run crashes slightly decreased from 55 in October 2021 to 54 in October 2022. Concurrently, the hit-and-run rate trended downward, falling from 12.5% of total crashes in October 2021 to 10% in October 2022.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
3
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
2
Motorists Killed
9
Pedestrians Injured
5
Cyclists Injured
119
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · 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 October 2021 (84 crashes) to both Sunday and Friday in October 2022 (85 crashes each). The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 3 PM in October 2021 (34 crashes) to 7 PM in October 2022 (37 crashes).
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.91% in October 2021 to 0.74% in October 2022, despite the total number of fatal crashes remaining at 4. Crashes resulting in serious injuries (severity A) increased from 5 to 7, while minor injury crashes (severity B) decreased from 56 to 52.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 4 fatal crash events resulted in 5 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
“Followed too closely” remained the top contributing factor, though its count decreased from 82 in October 2021 to 73 in October 2022. “No improper driving” decreased from 78 to 61 crashes, and “Failed to yield right of way” decreased from 48 to 28 crashes. The share of crashes attributed to “Followed too closely” decreased from 18.6% to 13.6%.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The number of crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 259 in October 2021 to 357 in October 2022, while crashes in rainy conditions decreased slightly from 76 to 72. Crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 320 to 390, whereas those on wet road surfaces decreased from 117 to 98.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of persons involved in crashes increased from 1022 to 1199 year-over-year. The 26-34 age group saw a notable decrease in involvement, from 266 persons in October 2021 to 176 in October 2022. Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make, increasing from 163 vehicles in October 2021 to 216 in October 2022.
Top Vehicle Makes (1,061 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Vehicle unit records
451 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (718 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 25 mph speed limit zone increased from 83 in October 2021 to 159 in October 2022, though the fatal rate in this zone decreased from 3.614% to 0.629%. Conversely, crashes in the 55 mph speed limit zone decreased from 74 to 64, but the fatal rate in this zone increased from 1.351% to 4.688%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 159 (0.629%) · 55 mph: 3 of 64 (4.688%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · 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: 2022-10-01 through 2022-10-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-10-01 through 2022-10-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 538
- Total persons involved: 1,199
- Total vehicles involved: 1,061
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: October 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/october-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: 2022-10-01 – 2022-10-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved