ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · BOSTON, MA · OCTOBER 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/october-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
450 CRASHES IN
BOSTON, MA
OCTOBER 2024
In October 2024, Boston experienced 450 crashes, a decrease of 14.9% compared to 529 crashes in October 2023. A notable year-over-year shift was the 100% increase in total fatalities, rising from 1 in October 2023 to 2 in October 2024.
450
▼ -14.9%was 529
Total Crash Events
2
▲ 100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
186
▼ -9.3%was 205
Persons Injured
57
▼ -20.8%was 72
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 27 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents in Boston showed a downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing by 14.9% from 529 in October 2023 to 450 in October 2024. Despite this reduction in total crashes, total fatalities increased by 100%, from 1 to 2, and total injuries decreased by 9.3%, from 205 to 186.
57
Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2024
▼ -20.8% vs prior (72)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased by 20.8% year-over-year, from 72 incidents in October 2023 to 57 in October 2024. The hit-and-run crash rate also saw a slight decrease, moving from 13.6% of all crashes in the prior period to 12.7% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
19
Pedestrians Injured
15
Cyclists Injured
142
Motorists Injured
10
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak crash day shifted from Monday in October 2023, with 92 crashes, to Tuesday in October 2024, with 75 crashes. The peak hour for crashes remained 4 PM in both periods, though the count at this hour decreased from 41 to 34. Crashes on Sundays saw a significant decrease from 89 in the prior period to 37 in the current period.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate increased from 0.19% in October 2023 to 0.44% in October 2024, corresponding to an increase from 1 to 2 fatal crashes. While total injuries decreased by 9.3% from 205 to 186, the proportion of minor injury crashes rose from 16.8% to 23.6%. Conversely, the share of 'No Injury' crashes decreased from 69.4% to 60.2%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor, 'Followed too closely', decreased by 51.1% in count, from 92 crashes in October 2023 to 45 crashes in October 2024. 'No improper driving' also saw a decrease of 11.4% in count, from 79 to 70 crashes. 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased by 39.3% in count, from 56 to 34 crashes, maintaining its position as a top three factor in both periods.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 365 in October 2023 to 289 in October 2024, while rain-related crashes significantly dropped from 65 to 17. The number of crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces decreased by 72.2%, from 79 to 22. Crashes during 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 267 to 223, and those in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions decreased from 189 to 151.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 15.8%, from 1060 in October 2023 to 892 in October 2024. The top three vehicle makes involved remained consistent: Toyota, Honda, and Ford, all showing a decrease in counts. All reported age groups showed a decrease in the number of persons involved in crashes, with the 26-34 age group seeing the largest numerical drop from 302 to 218.
Top Vehicle Makes (892 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Vehicle unit records
158 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (904 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The number of crashes reported in speed zones decreased from 433 in October 2023 to 307 in October 2024. Crashes in the 25 mph speed limit zone, which had the highest count in both periods, decreased from 176 to 148. Notably, fatal crashes in the 25 mph zone doubled from 1 in October 2023 to 2 in October 2024, resulting in an increase in the fatal crash rate for this zone from 0.568% to 1.351%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 2 of 148 (1.351%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · 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: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: BOSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 450
- Total persons involved: 1,066
- Total vehicles involved: 892
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 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/boston/october-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: 2024-10-01 – 2024-10-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved