Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

131 CRASHES IN
CAMBRIDGE, MA
MARCH 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMarch 2024

In March 2025, Cambridge experienced 131 crashes, a slight decrease from the 134 crashes recorded in March 2024, representing a 2.24% reduction in total crash incidents. However, total fatalities increased from 0 in the prior period to 1 in the current period, marking the most significant year-over-year shift in safety outcomes.

131

-2.2%was 134

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

33

3.1%was 32

Persons Injured

42

2.4%was 41

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) 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 · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend for crashes in Cambridge shows a slight decrease year-over-year, with total crashes falling from 134 in March 2024 to 131 in March 2025. Despite this reduction in crash volume, total fatalities rose from 0 to 1, and total injuries saw a minor increase from 32 to 33.

42

Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2025

2.4% vs prior (41)

Hit-and-run crashes increased slightly from 41 incidents in March 2024 to 42 incidents in March 2025. This resulted in a minor increase in the hit-and-run rate, rising from 30.6% in the prior period to 32.1% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

4

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 5-20.0%

10

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 100.0%

17

Motorists Injured

Prior: 170.0%

2

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted year-over-year, with the peak day for crashes moving from Saturday (21 crashes) in March 2024 to Thursday (25 crashes) in March 2025. The peak hour remained consistent at 2 PM for both periods, recording 13 crashes in the prior year and 15 crashes in the current year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity distribution changed notably, with fatal crashes increasing from 0 in March 2024 to 1 in March 2025. While serious injuries (A) decreased from 1 to 0, minor injuries (B) increased from 19 to 22, and possible injuries (C) decreased from 8 to 6. Overall, total injuries slightly increased from 32 to 33.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.8%
Minor Injury22minor injury crashes16.8%
15.8%prior 19
Possible Injury6possible injury crashes4.6%
-25.0%prior 8
No Injury75no injury crashes57.3%
-3.8%prior 78

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, 'No improper driving' decreased by 8 crashes, from 34 in March 2024 to 26 in March 2025. Conversely, 'Inattention' increased by 6 crashes, rising from 6 to 12, and 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' increased significantly from 2 to 10 crashes. 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a decrease of 5 crashes, moving from 14 to 9.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving26 (19.8%)-23.5%prior 34
Inattention12 (9.2%)100.0%prior 6
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner10 (7.6%)
Failed to yield right of way9 (6.9%)-35.7%prior 14
Other improper action7 (5.3%)0.0%prior 7
Followed too closely6 (4.6%)0.0%prior 6
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (3.1%)
Visibility obstructed3 (2.3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (1.5%)-60.0%prior 5
Distracted1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions increased by 18, from 54 in March 2024 to 72 in March 2025, while crashes in 'Rain' decreased by 13, from 21 to 8. Regarding lighting, crashes during 'Daylight' remained stable, increasing by 1 from 81 to 82, and crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' increased by 7, from 23 to 30. For road surface, crashes on 'Dry' roads increased by 19 (79 to 98), whereas those on 'Wet' roads decreased by 15 (32 to 17).

Weather

Clear72 (59.5%)
33.3%prior 54
Clear/Clear18 (14.9%)
38.5%prior 13
Cloudy12 (9.9%)
20.0%prior 10
Rain8 (6.6%)
-61.9%prior 21
Unknown/Unknown3 (2.5%)
Cloudy/Cloudy2 (1.7%)
-66.7%prior 6
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (0.8%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (0.8%)
Clear/Unknown1 (0.8%)
Unknown/Clear1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight82 (67.2%)
1.2%prior 81
Dark - lighted roadway30 (24.6%)
30.4%prior 23
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (3.3%)
Dusk3 (2.5%)
-50.0%prior 6
Other2 (1.6%)
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry98 (83.1%)
24.1%prior 79
Wet17 (14.4%)
-46.9%prior 32
Other2 (1.7%)
Snow1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes saw some shifts: Toyota decreased slightly from 45 to 44, while Honda increased from 34 to 38, and Ford increased from 18 to 24. In terms of demographics, the 26-34 age group saw an increase of 7 persons involved in crashes (from 50 to 57), and the 55-64 age group increased by 17 persons (from 13 to 30). The 21-25 age group experienced a decrease of 9 persons involved in crashes (from 31 to 22).

Top Vehicle Makes (231 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA44 (19%)
-2.2%prior 45
2
HONDA38 (16.5%)
11.8%prior 34
3
FORD24 (10.4%)
33.3%prior 18
4
SUBARU12 (5.2%)
20.0%prior 10
5
NISSAN11 (4.8%)
10.0%prior 10
6
HYUNDAI9 (3.9%)
7
VOLKSWAGEN8 (3.5%)
8
CHEVROLET8 (3.5%)
-42.9%prior 14
9
BMW7 (3%)
0.0%prior 7
10
MAZDA5 (2.2%)
0.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (227 persons with recorded sex)

Male146 (64.3%)
13.2%prior 129
Female81 (35.7%)
6.6%prior 76

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 20 mph speed zones increased from 19 in March 2024 to 23 in March 2025. Crashes in 25 mph speed zones remained constant at 95 for both periods, but a fatal crash occurred in a 25 mph zone in March 2025, compared to zero fatal crashes in 25 mph zones in March 2024.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 95 (1.053%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · 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: 2025-03-01 through 2025-03-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-03-01 through 2025-03-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: CAMBRIDGE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 131
  • Total persons involved: 294
  • Total vehicles involved: 231

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: March 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/cambridge/march-2025-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

Cambridge, MA Crash Report — March 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com