Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

153 CRASHES IN
CAMBRIDGE, MA
MAY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2024

In May 2025, CAMBRIDGE experienced 153 crashes, a slight decrease of 0.65% compared to the 154 crashes recorded in May 2024. The most notable shift year-over-year was a 300% increase in pedestrian crashes, rising from 4 in May 2024 to 16 in May 2025.

153

-0.6%was 154

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

32

-25.6%was 43

Persons Injured

46

-11.5%was 52

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash numbers remained relatively stable year-over-year, with a minor decrease of 0.65% from 154 crashes in May 2024 to 153 crashes in May 2025. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods, while total injuries decreased by 25.58%, from 43 in May 2024 to 32 in May 2025.

46

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2025

-11.5% vs prior (52)

Hit-and-run crashes decreased by 11.54%, from 52 incidents in May 2024 to 46 in May 2025. The hit-and-run rate also saw a decrease of 3.7 percentage points, falling from 33.8% of all crashes in May 2024 to 30.1% in May 2025.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

9

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 580.0%

9

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 15-40.0%

13

Motorists Injured

Prior: 19-31.6%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 4-75.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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 Wednesday (32 crashes) in May 2024 to Thursday (30 crashes) in May 2025. The peak hour also changed, moving from 12 PM (18 crashes) in May 2024 to 5 PM (14 crashes) in May 2025. Notably, crashes on Sundays increased by 100%, from 8 to 16, while crashes on Wednesdays decreased by 40.6%, from 32 to 19.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The number of serious injury crashes decreased by 50%, from 2 in May 2024 to 1 in May 2025, with the proportion of serious injury crashes falling from 1.3% to 0.7%. Minor injury crashes also decreased by 8 incidents, from 29 to 21, representing a 27.6% reduction. Overall, total injuries to persons decreased by 25.58%, from 43 in May 2024 to 32 in May 2025.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.7%
-50.0%prior 2
Minor Injury21minor injury crashes13.7%
-27.6%prior 29
Possible Injury6possible injury crashes3.9%
-14.3%prior 7
No Injury89no injury crashes58.2%
4.7%prior 85

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factor 'Inattention' saw a significant increase of 300% in count, rising from 3 crashes in May 2024 to 12 crashes in May 2025, with its share of crashes increasing from 1.9% to 7.8%. Conversely, 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased by 26.3% in count, from 19 to 14 crashes, and 'Followed too closely' decreased by 66.7% in count, from 6 to 2 crashes. The count of crashes where 'No improper driving' was cited increased by 13.8%, from 29 to 33.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving33 (21.6%)13.8%prior 29
Failed to yield right of way14 (9.2%)-26.3%prior 19
Inattention12 (7.8%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road8 (5.2%)14.3%prior 7
Other improper action6 (3.9%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings5 (3.3%)-16.7%prior 6
Over-correcting/over-steering3 (2%)
Followed too closely2 (1.3%)-66.7%prior 6
Visibility obstructed2 (1.3%)
Made an improper turn2 (1.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in rainy conditions increased by 87.5% year-over-year, from 8 in May 2024 to 15 in May 2025. This was mirrored by a 107.1% increase in crashes on wet road surfaces, rising from 14 to 29. The number of crashes in clear weather conditions decreased by 9%, from 89 to 81, while crashes on dry road surfaces decreased by 7.7%, from 117 to 108.

Weather

Clear81 (56.6%)
-9.0%prior 89
Clear/Clear19 (13.3%)
-13.6%prior 22
Rain15 (10.5%)
87.5%prior 8
Cloudy11 (7.7%)
10.0%prior 10
Rain/Rain4 (2.8%)
Cloudy/Rain4 (2.8%)
Rain/Cloudy3 (2.1%)
Clear/Unknown2 (1.4%)
Unknown/Unknown1 (0.7%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight115 (78.8%)
1.8%prior 113
Dark - lighted roadway20 (13.7%)
0.0%prior 20
Dusk5 (3.4%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (1.4%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (1.4%)
Other1 (0.7%)
Dawn1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry108 (78.8%)
-7.7%prior 117
Wet29 (21.2%)
107.1%prior 14

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased by 3.7%, from 269 in May 2024 to 259 in May 2025. There was a notable increase in crashes involving persons aged 0-15, rising from 1 to 11, and those aged 16-20, increasing from 4 to 12. The number of female persons involved in crashes increased by 55.9%, from 68 to 106, while male persons involved decreased by 11.2%, from 170 to 151.

Top Vehicle Makes (259 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA59 (22.8%)
-4.8%prior 62
2
HONDA36 (13.9%)
33.3%prior 27
3
FORD29 (11.2%)
52.6%prior 19
4
JEEP9 (3.5%)
0.0%prior 9
5
CHEVROLET9 (3.5%)
-25.0%prior 12
6
HYUNDAI9 (3.5%)
28.6%prior 7
7
BMW7 (2.7%)
16.7%prior 6
8
SUBARU6 (2.3%)
-50.0%prior 12
9
NISSAN6 (2.3%)
-14.3%prior 7
10
KIA6 (2.3%)
-14.3%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (257 persons with recorded sex)

Male151 (58.8%)
-11.2%prior 170
Female106 (41.2%)
55.9%prior 68

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed limit zone increased by 6.8%, from 103 in May 2024 to 110 in May 2025, remaining the most common speed zone for crashes. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph speed limit zone saw a significant decrease of 83.3%, falling from 12 to 2. There were no fatal crashes reported in any speed limit zone for either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: CAMBRIDGE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 153
  • Total persons involved: 335
  • Total vehicles involved: 259

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 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/cambridge/may-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

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