Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

29 CRASHES IN
CANTON, MA
JULY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2023

Total crashes in Canton, MA decreased from 45 in July 2023 to 29 in July 2024, representing a 35.6% reduction. The most notable shift was a significant decrease in total injuries, falling by 57.9% from 19 to 8.

29

-35.6%was 45

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

8

-57.9%was 19

Persons Injured

1

-75.0%was 4

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in Canton, MA showed a significant downward trend year-over-year, decreasing by 16 crashes from 45 in July 2023 to 29 in July 2024. This represents a 35.6% reduction in total crashes.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2024

-75.0% vs prior (4)

Hit and run crashes decreased from 4 in July 2023 to 1 in July 2024. This resulted in the hit and run rate decreasing from 8.9% of total crashes to 3.4%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

8

Motorists Injured

Prior: 18-55.6%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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 with 8 crashes in July 2023 to Tuesday with 7 crashes in July 2024. The peak hour remained 3p in both periods, though the number of crashes at that hour decreased from 6 in July 2023 to 4 in July 2024.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Total fatalities remained at 0 in both July 2023 and July 2024. Total injuries decreased by 11, from 19 in July 2023 to 8 in July 2024, a 57.9% reduction. While July 2023 reported 1 serious injury crash (2.2% share), July 2024 reported no serious injury crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury3minor injury crashes10.3%
-25.0%prior 4
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes13.8%
33.3%prior 3
No Injury20no injury crashes69%
-44.4%prior 36

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factor 'No improper driving' decreased significantly from 18 crashes (40% share) in July 2023 to 4 crashes (13.8% share) in July 2024, a reduction of 14 crashes. 'Followed too closely' remained constant at 9 crashes in both periods, though its share increased from 20% to 31%. 'Driving too fast for conditions' decreased from 3 crashes to 2 crashes, a 33.3% reduction in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too closely9 (31%)0.0%prior 9
No improper driving4 (13.8%)-77.8%prior 18
Other improper action2 (6.9%)
Driving too fast for conditions2 (6.9%)
Failed to yield right of way2 (6.9%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (3.4%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (3.4%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (3.4%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (3.4%)
Inattention1 (3.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather decreased from 31 in July 2023 to 24 in July 2024. Similarly, crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces decreased from 36 to 27, and crashes during 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 39 to 24. Crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces decreased from 9 in July 2023 to 2 in July 2024.

Weather

Clear24 (82.8%)
-22.6%prior 31
Cloudy4 (13.8%)
Clear/Unknown1 (3.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight24 (82.8%)
-38.5%prior 39
Dark - roadway not lighted5 (17.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry27 (93.1%)
-25.0%prior 36
Wet2 (6.9%)
-77.8%prior 9

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Honda remained the top vehicle make involved in crashes, though its count decreased from 14 in July 2023 to 12 in July 2024. Toyota also saw a decrease from 11 to 9, while Chevrolet increased from 4 to 7. The most represented age group shifted from 26-34 year-olds (20 persons) in July 2023 to 35-44 year-olds (12 persons) in July 2024.

Top Vehicle Makes (53 vehicles)

1
HONDA12 (22.6%)
-14.3%prior 14
2
TOYOTA9 (17%)
-18.2%prior 11
3
CHEVROLET7 (13.2%)
4
FORD4 (7.5%)
-63.6%prior 11
5
DODGE2 (3.8%)
6
JEEP2 (3.8%)
7
BMW2 (3.8%)
8
MAZDA2 (3.8%)
9
MERCEDES-BENZ2 (3.8%)
10
NISSAN2 (3.8%)
-66.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (58 persons with recorded sex)

Male36 (62.1%)
-36.8%prior 57
Female22 (37.9%)
-46.3%prior 41

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes at 65 mph speed limits decreased from 10 in July 2023 to 7 in July 2024. Crashes at 45 mph speed limits also decreased, from 10 to 3. There were no fatal crashes reported in any speed limit zone for either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: CANTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 29
  • Total persons involved: 61
  • Total vehicles involved: 53

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). "CANTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: July 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/canton/july-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

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Canton, MA Crash Report — July 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com