ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CAMBRIDGE, MA · OCTOBER 2023
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/october-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
195 CRASHES IN
CAMBRIDGE, MA
OCTOBER 2023
In October 2023, CAMBRIDGE experienced 195 crashes, an 18.18% increase compared to the 165 crashes recorded in October 2022. Total injuries also rose significantly, from 56 in the prior year to 71 in the current period, representing a 26.79% increase. This period saw a notable shift in the peak day for crashes, moving from Friday to Monday.
195
▲ 18.2%was 165
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
71
▲ 26.8%was 56
Persons Injured
58
▲ 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. 27 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash activity in CAMBRIDGE showed an upward trend year-over-year. Total crashes increased by 30, from 165 in October 2022 to 195 in October 2023, marking an 18.18% rise. Concurrently, total injuries increased by 15, from 56 to 71, representing a 26.79% increase.
58
Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2023
▲ 11.5% vs prior (52)
Hit-and-run crashes increased in count from 52 in October 2022 to 58 in October 2023. However, the hit-and-run rate slightly decreased from 31.5% of all crashes in the prior period to 29.7% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
10
Pedestrians Injured
17
Cyclists Injured
32
Motorists Injured
12
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · 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 notably between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday in October 2022, with 39 crashes, to Monday in October 2023, with 38 crashes. The peak hour also changed from 4 PM (20 crashes) in the prior year to 10 AM (21 crashes) in the current year.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
There were no fatal crashes reported in either October 2022 or October 2023, maintaining a fatal rate of 0 for both periods. The proportion of minor injury crashes (severity B) increased from 20% in October 2022 to 25.1% in October 2023. Conversely, the proportion of serious injury crashes (severity A) decreased from 2.4% to 1.5%, and possible injury crashes (severity C) decreased from 7.3% to 5.1%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving', increased from 35 crashes in October 2022 to 52 crashes in October 2023, an increase of 17 crashes. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes decreased from 24 to 17, a reduction of 7 crashes. 'Followed too closely' crashes saw a notable increase, rising from 3 to 10, while 'Inattention' crashes increased from 7 to 12.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes in clear weather conditions increased from 93 to 137, and their proportion of total crashes rose from 56.36% to 70.26%. Crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 107 to 149, with their proportion increasing from 64.85% to 76.41%. Similarly, daylight crashes increased from 88 to 136, and their proportion rose from 53.33% to 69.74%, indicating a shift towards crashes occurring under more favorable environmental conditions.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 274 in October 2022 to 318 in October 2023. Toyota remained the top vehicle make involved, although its count decreased from 66 to 53. Chevrolet saw a significant increase in involvement, rising from 3 vehicles to 16, moving into the top 5 makes, while Subaru and Mazda dropped out of the top 5.
Top Vehicle Makes (318 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Vehicle unit records
105 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (329 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased from 115 in October 2022 to 145 in October 2023, representing the largest count increase across all speed zones. Crashes in the 20 mph zone also increased from 24 to 30. Conversely, crashes in the 10 mph zone decreased from 4 to 1, and in the 30 mph zone from 6 to 2.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · 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: 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: CAMBRIDGE, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 195
- Total persons involved: 440
- Total vehicles involved: 318
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: October 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/cambridge/october-2023-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: 2023-10-01 – 2023-10-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved