Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

71 CRASHES IN
BURLINGTON, MA
JANUARY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2023

In January 2024, Burlington experienced a 16.4% increase in total crashes, rising from 61 in January 2023 to 71. Concurrently, total injuries increased by 22.2%, from 18 to 22. A notable shift was the doubling of DUI-related crashes, from 2 to 4 incidents.

71

16.4%was 61

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

22

22.2%was 18

Persons Injured

5

25.0%was 4

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 · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash data for Burlington shows an upward trend year-over-year. Total crashes increased by 16.4%, from 61 in January 2023 to 71 in January 2024. This was accompanied by a 22.2% rise in total injuries, from 18 to 22.

5

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2024

25.0% vs prior (4)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 4 in January 2023 to 5 in January 2024. The hit-and-run rate also saw an increase, rising from 6.6% of total crashes to 7.0%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

22

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1729.4%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · 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 19 incidents in January 2023, to Friday, with 15 incidents in January 2024. The peak crash hour also changed, moving from 5 PM (7 crashes) in the prior period to 3 PM (11 crashes) in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both January 2023 and January 2024. Serious injury crashes increased from 2 (3.3% of total crashes) to 3 (4.2%). Minor injury crashes also saw an increase, rising from 8 (13.1%) to 12 (16.9%) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes4.2%
50.0%prior 2
Minor Injury12minor injury crashes16.9%
50.0%prior 8
Possible Injury3possible injury crashes4.2%
0.0%prior 3
No Injury53no injury crashes74.6%
12.8%prior 47

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, 'Inattention' crashes increased significantly from 3 in January 2023 to 9 in January 2024. 'Followed too closely' crashes rose from 9 to 12, while 'No improper driving' increased from 13 to 15 crashes. Conversely, 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes decreased from 7 to 3.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving15 (21.1%)15.4%prior 13
Followed too closely12 (16.9%)33.3%prior 9
Inattention9 (12.7%)
Driving too fast for conditions6 (8.5%)20.0%prior 5
Other improper action4 (5.6%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (4.2%)-57.1%prior 7
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (4.2%)
Physical impairment2 (2.8%)
Visibility obstructed2 (2.8%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (2.8%)-66.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift towards crashes occurring in clearer conditions, with incidents in 'Clear' weather increasing from 25 to 44 and on 'Dry' road surfaces from 24 to 52. Crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces significantly decreased from 25 in the prior period to 7 in the current period. Crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions also increased from 26 to 41.

Weather

Clear44 (62.9%)
76.0%prior 25
Cloudy8 (11.4%)
14.3%prior 7
Snow7 (10.0%)
16.7%prior 6
Cloudy/Rain3 (4.3%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)2 (2.9%)
Rain2 (2.9%)
-66.7%prior 6
Clear/Unknown1 (1.4%)
Cloudy/Other1 (1.4%)
Snow/Cloudy1 (1.4%)
Cloudy/Snow1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight41 (57.7%)
57.7%prior 26
Dark - lighted roadway21 (29.6%)
-16.0%prior 25
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (5.6%)
-20.0%prior 5
Dusk3 (4.2%)
Dawn1 (1.4%)
Other1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry52 (73.2%)
116.7%prior 24
Snow9 (12.7%)
0.0%prior 9
Wet7 (9.9%)
-72.0%prior 25
Slush2 (2.8%)
Ice1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes increased from 139 to 161 year-over-year. The age group 26-34 continued to have the highest count, increasing from 30 to 35 persons. HONDA became the top vehicle make involved, with 24 vehicles, surpassing TOYOTA which saw a slight decrease from 23 to 21 vehicles.

Top Vehicle Makes (138 vehicles)

1
HONDA24 (17.4%)
41.2%prior 17
2
TOYOTA21 (15.2%)
-8.7%prior 23
3
NISSAN10 (7.2%)
100.0%prior 5
4
FORD9 (6.5%)
-50.0%prior 18
5
JEEP8 (5.8%)
60.0%prior 5
6
SUBARU8 (5.8%)
7
CHEVROLET7 (5.1%)
40.0%prior 5
8
BMW7 (5.1%)
9
MAZDA6 (4.3%)
10
AUDI4 (2.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (151 persons with recorded sex)

Male91 (60.3%)
24.7%prior 73
Female60 (39.7%)
3.4%prior 58

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 55 mph speed zones more than doubled, increasing from 11 in January 2023 to 24 in January 2024, making it the highest count in the current period. Crashes at 35 mph increased from 20 to 23, while those at 30 mph decreased from 16 to 11. No fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-01-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: BURLINGTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 71
  • Total persons involved: 161
  • Total vehicles involved: 138

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). "BURLINGTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/burlington/january-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

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Burlington, MA Crash Report — January 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com