Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

73 CRASHES IN
BRAINTREE, MA
JANUARY 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2025

In January 2026, Braintree experienced 73 crashes, a 14.1% decrease compared to the 85 crashes recorded in January 2025. The most significant year-over-year shift was a 50% reduction in total injuries, falling from 40 to 20.

73

-14.1%was 85

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

20

-50.0%was 40

Persons Injured

4

-33.3%was 6

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Braintree show a decrease in January 2026 compared to the prior year. Total crashes fell by 14.1%, from 85 to 73, and total injuries saw a substantial 50% reduction, decreasing from 40 to 20.

4

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2026

-33.3% vs prior (6)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 6 incidents in January 2025 to 4 incidents in January 2026. This represents a reduction in the hit-and-run rate from 7.1% of all crashes in the prior period to 5.5% in the current period, indicating a downward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

20

Motorists Injured

Prior: 40-50.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Saturday with 16 incidents in January 2025 to Thursday with 13 incidents in January 2026. Similarly, the peak crash hour shifted from 2 PM (10 crashes) in 2025 to 7 PM (8 crashes) in 2026.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at zero for both January 2025 and January 2026. However, total injuries decreased by 50%, from 40 to 20. Serious injury crashes (Severity A) saw a reduction from 4 incidents (4.7% of all crashes) in the prior period to 1 incident (1.4% of all crashes) in the current period, indicating a shift towards less severe outcomes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.4%
-75.0%prior 4
Minor Injury8minor injury crashes11%
-11.1%prior 9
Possible Injury7possible injury crashes9.6%
-50.0%prior 14
No Injury57no injury crashes78.1%
3.6%prior 55

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factors showed some shifts year-over-year. 'No improper driving' decreased from 20 to 16 crashes, while 'Followed too closely' decreased from 19 to 15 crashes. Notably, 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' incidents increased by 50%, from 4 to 6 crashes, and 'Inattention' incidents doubled from 2 to 4 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving16 (21.9%)-20.0%prior 20
Followed too closely15 (20.5%)-21.1%prior 19
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road6 (8.2%)
Failed to yield right of way6 (8.2%)-25.0%prior 8
Inattention4 (5.5%)
Driving too fast for conditions2 (2.7%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (2.7%)
Fatigued/asleep2 (2.7%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (2.7%)
Glare1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

While 'Clear' weather remained the most common condition for crashes, its count decreased from 46 in January 2025 to 37 in January 2026. Crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions also decreased from 50 to 36, whereas crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 19 to 29. Furthermore, crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces increased from 9 to 12, and on 'Snow' surfaces from 8 to 10.

Weather

Clear37 (50.7%)
-19.6%prior 46
Clear/Clear9 (12.3%)
-52.6%prior 19
Snow8 (11.0%)
-11.1%prior 9
Cloudy5 (6.8%)
Rain4 (5.5%)
Snow/Snow2 (2.7%)
Other1 (1.4%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (1.4%)
Rain/Other1 (1.4%)
Rain/Snow1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight36 (49.3%)
-28.0%prior 50
Dark - lighted roadway29 (39.7%)
52.6%prior 19
Dark - roadway not lighted5 (6.8%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (2.7%)
-75.0%prior 8
Dawn1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry43 (58.9%)
-30.6%prior 62
Wet12 (16.4%)
33.3%prior 9
Snow10 (13.7%)
25.0%prior 8
Ice4 (5.5%)
-20.0%prior 5
Slush3 (4.1%)
Other1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 180 in January 2025 to 146 in January 2026. While Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make, its count decreased from 34 to 25. There was a notable shift in the age distribution of persons involved, with the 26-34 age group decreasing from 46 to 33, and the 65+ age group decreasing from 28 to 19, while the 45-54 age group increased from 25 to 29.

Top Vehicle Makes (146 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA25 (17.1%)
-26.5%prior 34
2
HONDA17 (11.6%)
-15.0%prior 20
3
FORD13 (8.9%)
-40.9%prior 22
4
JEEP11 (7.5%)
-8.3%prior 12
5
NISSAN9 (6.2%)
-25.0%prior 12
6
ACURA8 (5.5%)
7
LEXUS7 (4.8%)
0.0%prior 7
8
CHEVROLET7 (4.8%)
-22.2%prior 9
9
VOLKSWAGEN5 (3.4%)
10
SUBARU4 (2.7%)
-20.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (161 persons with recorded sex)

Male94 (58.4%)
-20.3%prior 118
Female67 (41.6%)
-11.8%prior 76

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones saw some changes. Crashes in the 30 mph zone remained constant at 29 incidents for both periods. However, crashes in the 55 mph zone decreased from 27 to 18, and those in the 25 mph zone decreased from 10 to 5. Conversely, crashes in the 60 mph zone increased from 1 to 6 incidents year-over-year.

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-01-01 through 2026-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: BRAINTREE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 73
  • Total persons involved: 174
  • Total vehicles involved: 146

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). "BRAINTREE, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/braintree/january-2026-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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Braintree, MA Crash Report — January 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com