Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

170 CRASHES IN
BROCKTON, MA
SEPTEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2022

Total crashes in BROCKTON, MA decreased by 24.44% year-over-year, from 225 crashes in September 2022 to 170 crashes in September 2023. The most notable shift was the absence of traffic fatalities in September 2023, compared to 1 fatality in the prior year.

170

-24.4%was 225

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

95

-17.4%was 115

Persons Injured

3

-57.1%was 7

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. 29 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a decrease in crash incidents year-over-year, with total crashes falling from 225 to 170, representing a 24.44% reduction. Fatalities also decreased from 1 to 0, and total injuries dropped from 115 to 95.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2023

-57.1% vs prior (7)

Hit-and-run crashes significantly decreased year-over-year, falling from 7 incidents in September 2022 to 3 incidents in September 2023. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate decreased from 3.1% of all crashes to 1.8%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 5-80.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

92

Motorists Injured

Prior: 108-14.8%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns shifted year-over-year; Saturday became the peak day for crashes in September 2023 with 37 incidents, a change from Thursday being the peak day in September 2022 with 40 incidents. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 5p in September 2022 to 3p in September 2023, with both periods recording 18 crashes during their respective peak hours.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There was a positive shift in crash severity, with no fatalities reported in September 2023 compared to 1 fatality in September 2022. While the count of serious injury crashes decreased from 7 to 6, their proportion of total crashes slightly increased from 3.1% to 3.5%. Minor injury crashes also saw a decrease in count from 36 to 29, but their share of total crashes increased from 16% to 17.1%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury6serious injury crashes3.5%
-14.3%prior 7
Minor Injury29minor injury crashes17.1%
-19.4%prior 36
Possible Injury28possible injury crashes16.5%
-3.4%prior 29
No Injury78no injury crashes45.9%
-21.2%prior 99

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among the top contributing factors, 'No improper driving' decreased slightly from 44 to 43 crashes, and 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased from 35 to 33 crashes. 'Followed too closely' saw a more significant reduction, falling from 22 crashes to 14 crashes, a 36.36% decrease in count. 'Driving too fast for conditions' increased from 3 crashes to 5 crashes, a 66.67% increase in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving43 (25.3%)-2.3%prior 44
Failed to yield right of way33 (19.4%)-5.7%prior 35
Followed too closely14 (8.2%)-36.4%prior 22
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road7 (4.1%)-58.8%prior 17
Other improper action5 (2.9%)-28.6%prior 7
Driving too fast for conditions5 (2.9%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings4 (2.4%)-42.9%prior 7
Inattention4 (2.4%)-76.5%prior 17
Over-correcting/over-steering4 (2.4%)-20.0%prior 5
Wrong side or wrong way4 (2.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 156 to 102 year-over-year, while crashes during 'Rain' increased from 19 to 25. The number of crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces decreased from 182 to 129, and crashes in 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 153 to 102. Crashes occurring at 'Dawn' increased from 5 to 7, and at 'Dusk' from 5 to 6.

Weather

Clear102 (60.4%)
-34.6%prior 156
Rain25 (14.8%)
31.6%prior 19
Clear/Cloudy10 (5.9%)
100.0%prior 5
Cloudy10 (5.9%)
-47.4%prior 19
Cloudy/Rain8 (4.7%)
-33.3%prior 12
Clear/Unknown6 (3.6%)
Cloudy/Unknown4 (2.4%)
Rain/Cloudy2 (1.2%)
Rain/Unknown2 (1.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight102 (60.0%)
-33.3%prior 153
Dark - lighted roadway43 (25.3%)
-17.3%prior 52
Dark - roadway not lighted8 (4.7%)
14.3%prior 7
Dawn7 (4.1%)
40.0%prior 5
Dusk6 (3.5%)
20.0%prior 5
Other3 (1.8%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry129 (75.9%)
-29.1%prior 182
Wet41 (24.1%)
-2.4%prior 42

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes decreased from 578 to 468. While most age groups saw a decrease in representation, the 0-15 age group increased from 31 to 34 persons, and the 45-54 age group increased from 56 to 59 persons. Among vehicle makes, TOYOTA and HONDA remained the top two, though their counts decreased, while BMW and KIA saw increases in their counts from 8 to 15 and 9 to 14 respectively, improving their relative rankings.

Top Vehicle Makes (349 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA67 (19.2%)
-22.1%prior 86
2
HONDA50 (14.3%)
-33.3%prior 75
3
FORD36 (10.3%)
-2.7%prior 37
4
NISSAN29 (8.3%)
-38.3%prior 47
5
CHEVROLET23 (6.6%)
-4.2%prior 24
6
HYUNDAI16 (4.6%)
0.0%prior 16
7
BMW15 (4.3%)
87.5%prior 8
8
KIA14 (4%)
55.6%prior 9
9
JEEP12 (3.4%)
0.0%prior 12
10
GMC10 (2.9%)
11.1%prior 9

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (427 persons with recorded sex)

Male240 (56.2%)
-22.6%prior 310
Female187 (43.8%)
-16.5%prior 224

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone decreased from 179 to 137, a 23.46% reduction, and notably, this zone recorded 1 fatal crash in September 2022 but none in September 2023. Crashes in the 65 mph speed zone remained stable at 15 incidents in both periods. There were no fatal crashes in any speed zone during September 2023, compared to 1 fatal crash in the 30 mph zone in September 2022.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · 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: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: BROCKTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 170
  • Total persons involved: 468
  • Total vehicles involved: 349

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). "BROCKTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: September 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/brockton/september-2023-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

Brockton, MA Crash Report — September 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com