ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CAMBRIDGE, MA · MAY 2024
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/cambridge/may-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
154 CRASHES IN
CAMBRIDGE, MA
MAY 2024
Total crashes in CAMBRIDGE for May 2024 decreased by 9.41% compared to May 2023, with 154 crashes this year versus 170 last year. The most notable shift was a 200% increase in speeding crashes, rising from 2 in May 2023 to 6 in May 2024.
154
▼ -9.4%was 170
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
43
▼ -23.2%was 56
Persons Injured
52
▼ -5.5%was 55
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. 31 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash activity in CAMBRIDGE showed a downward trend in May 2024 compared to the prior year, with total crashes decreasing by 9.41% from 170 to 154. This decline was accompanied by a 23.21% reduction in total injuries, which fell from 56 to 43. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.
52
Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2024
▼ -5.5% vs prior (55)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 55 in May 2023 to 52 in May 2024. However, the hit-and-run rate increased slightly from 32.4% to 33.8% of total crashes, indicating a higher proportion of crashes involved a hit-and-run in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
5
Pedestrians Injured
15
Cyclists Injured
19
Motorists Injured
4
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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 Thursday in May 2023 (30 crashes) to Wednesday in May 2024 (32 crashes). The peak crash hour also shifted from 5 PM (18 crashes) in May 2023 to 12 PM (18 crashes) in May 2024, maintaining the same peak count.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes remained at zero in both May 2023 and May 2024. Serious injury crashes, coded 'A', appeared in May 2024 with 2 incidents (1.3% of total crashes), whereas there were none in May 2023. Minor injury crashes decreased from 37 (21.8% share) to 29 (18.8% share), and possible injury crashes decreased from 9 (5.3% share) to 7 (4.5% share).
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving', saw a slight decrease from 30 crashes in May 2023 to 29 crashes in May 2024. 'Failed to yield right of way' increased by 6 crashes, from 13 to 19, while 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' decreased from 10 crashes to 6 crashes. 'Driving too fast for conditions' also saw an increase from 0 to 3 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 112 in May 2023 to 89 in May 2024, while 'Clear/Clear' conditions saw an increase from 12 to 22 crashes. Crashes during 'Daylight' decreased from 133 to 113, but crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 14 to 20. Crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces decreased from 140 to 117, and on 'Wet' surfaces from 16 to 14.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Toyota crash involvement increased by 6, from 56 in May 2023 to 62 in May 2024, making it the most involved make in both periods. Honda's involvement decreased significantly by 22 crashes, from 49 to 27. The 26-34 age group, while still the highest, saw a decrease in involved persons from 76 to 69, and female involvement decreased from 108 to 68.
Top Vehicle Makes (269 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Vehicle unit records
83 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (238 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The 25 mph speed limit zone continued to account for the majority of crashes, decreasing from 113 in May 2023 to 103 in May 2024. Crashes in the 20 mph zone decreased from 29 to 24, while the 35 mph zone saw a slight increase from 11 to 12 crashes. Fatal rates remained at 0 across all speed zones in both periods.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: CAMBRIDGE, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 154
- Total persons involved: 327
- Total vehicles involved: 269
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: May 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/cambridge/may-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2024-05-01 – 2024-05-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved