Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

113 CRASHES IN
CAMBRIDGE, MA
JANUARY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2021

In January 2022, CAMBRIDGE, MA recorded 113 total crashes, an increase from 91 crashes in January 2021. This represents a 24.18% rise in total crash incidents year-over-year. Despite the increase in crashes, total injuries decreased by 14.81% in the current period.

113

24.2%was 91

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

23

-14.8%was 27

Persons Injured

41

46.4%was 28

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash incidents in CAMBRIDGE, MA increased year-over-year, rising by 24.18% from 91 crashes in January 2021 to 113 crashes in January 2022. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods. Total injuries decreased by 14.81%, from 27 in January 2021 to 23 in January 2022.

41

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2022

46.4% vs prior (28)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 28 in January 2021 to 41 in January 2022. This resulted in an increase in the hit-and-run rate, rising from 30.8% of all crashes in the prior period to 36.3% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

8

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 560.0%

5

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 366.7%

10

Motorists Injured

Prior: 18-44.4%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · 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 Friday in January 2021, with 24 crashes, to Monday in January 2022, with 23 crashes. The peak hour also changed, moving from 5 p.m. with 9 crashes in January 2021 to 9 a.m. with 11 crashes in January 2022. This indicates a shift in the timing of peak crash activity.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at 0 in both January 2021 and January 2022. Serious injury crashes decreased from 4 (4.4% of total crashes) in the prior period to 1 (0.9% of total crashes) in the current period. Minor injury crashes remained at 16 in both periods, though their proportion of total crashes decreased from 17.6% to 14.2%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.9%
-75.0%prior 4
Minor Injury16minor injury crashes14.2%
0.0%prior 16
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes3.5%
-20.0%prior 5
No Injury60no injury crashes53.1%
25.0%prior 48

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' increased from 13 in January 2021 to 26 in January 2022, a 100% increase in count. Crashes involving 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' increased from 2 to 5, a 150% rise in count. Conversely, crashes due to 'Followed too closely' decreased from 6 to 1, an 83.33% reduction in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving26 (23%)100.0%prior 13
Failed to yield right of way6 (5.3%)0.0%prior 6
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner5 (4.4%)
Inattention4 (3.5%)
Other improper action3 (2.7%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings3 (2.7%)-40.0%prior 5
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road3 (2.7%)
Over-correcting/over-steering2 (1.8%)
Made an improper turn2 (1.8%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in Daylight conditions increased from 40 in January 2021 to 54 in January 2022. Crashes on Dry road surfaces decreased from 64 to 54, while those on Snow-covered surfaces increased from 5 to 19. The number of crashes during Dark - lighted roadway conditions decreased from 26 to 22.

Weather

Clear47 (48.5%)
-2.1%prior 48
Snow15 (15.5%)
66.7%prior 9
Cloudy11 (11.3%)
10.0%prior 10
Unknown/Unknown5 (5.2%)
Clear/Clear5 (5.2%)
-50.0%prior 10
Snow/Blowing sand, snow3 (3.1%)
Rain3 (3.1%)
Clear/Cloudy2 (2.1%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (1.0%)
Fog, smog, smoke/Rain1 (1.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight54 (60.7%)
35.0%prior 40
Dark - lighted roadway22 (24.7%)
-15.4%prior 26
Dusk8 (9.0%)
-46.7%prior 15
Dawn2 (2.2%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (2.2%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry54 (61.4%)
-15.6%prior 64
Snow19 (21.6%)
280.0%prior 5
Wet13 (14.8%)
44.4%prior 9
Ice1 (1.1%)
Slush1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 158 in January 2021 to 208 in January 2022. Toyota remained the most frequently involved make, increasing from 29 to 40 vehicles. The 26-34 age group saw an increase in persons involved from 34 to 42, while the 16-20 age group decreased from 9 to 5 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (208 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA40 (19.2%)
37.9%prior 29
2
HONDA24 (11.5%)
14.3%prior 21
3
FORD19 (9.1%)
0.0%prior 19
4
NISSAN11 (5.3%)
0.0%prior 11
5
SUBARU9 (4.3%)
80.0%prior 5
6
CHEVROLET8 (3.8%)
33.3%prior 6
7
JEEP7 (3.4%)
8
VOLKSWAGEN6 (2.9%)
9
GMC6 (2.9%)
10
MAZDA6 (2.9%)
20.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (154 persons with recorded sex)

Male101 (65.6%)
18.8%prior 85
Female52 (33.8%)
8.3%prior 48
R1 (0.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The number of crashes occurring in 25 mph speed zones increased from 61 in January 2021 to 84 in January 2022. Crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 6 to 3. No fatalities were recorded in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-01-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: CAMBRIDGE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 113
  • Total persons involved: 245
  • Total vehicles involved: 208

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). "CAMBRIDGE, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/cambridge/january-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

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Cambridge, MA Crash Report — January 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com