ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CANTON, MA · MARCH 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/canton/march-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
36 CRASHES IN
CANTON, MA
MARCH 2024
In March 2024, Canton experienced 36 crashes, identical to the 36 crashes recorded in March 2023. A significant year-over-year shift was observed in fatalities, which increased from 0 in March 2023 to 1 in March 2024. Total injuries also rose by 45.5%, from 11 to 16.
36
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
16
▲ 45.5%was 11
Persons Injured
2
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.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The total number of crashes in Canton remained stable year-over-year, with 36 crashes reported in both March 2024 and March 2023. However, there was an increase in crash severity, as total fatalities rose from 0 to 1, and total injuries increased by 45.5%, from 11 to 16.
2
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2024
5.6% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Motorists Killed
16
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal distribution of crashes showed some shifts year-over-year. In March 2024, crashes peaked on Sunday and Friday with 9 incidents each, whereas in March 2023, Thursday was the peak day with 9 crashes. The peak hour for crashes also shifted, moving from 1 PM with 5 crashes in March 2023 to 11 AM with 4 crashes in March 2024.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
There was a notable increase in crash severity in March 2024 compared to the prior year. Fatal crashes rose from 0 in March 2023 to 1 in March 2024, resulting in a fatal crash rate of 2.8%. Crashes involving injuries (serious, minor, or possible) increased from 8 incidents (22.2% of total crashes) in March 2023 to 13 incidents (36.1% of total crashes) in March 2024.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors shifted significantly between the two periods. "Followed too closely" became the most frequent factor in March 2024 with 12 crashes, an increase of 5 crashes (71.4%) from the 7 incidents in March 2023. Conversely, crashes attributed to "No improper driving" decreased by 7 incidents, from 17 in March 2023 to 10 in March 2024. Additionally, "Inattention" decreased by 3 crashes, from 4 to 1.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crash conditions showed some shifts, particularly in weather patterns. Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather decreased from 26 in March 2023 to 24 in March 2024, while "Cloudy" conditions saw an increase from 1 to 5 crashes. Regarding road surface, "Dry" conditions remained the most common factor, accounting for 27 crashes in both periods, though "Wet" conditions increased slightly from 7 to 8 crashes. Crashes during "Daylight" increased from 21 to 26, while those in "Dark - lighted roadway" decreased from 8 to 4.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 63 in March 2023 to 73 in March 2024. Toyota remained the top vehicle make involved, increasing from 7 incidents in March 2023 to 13 in March 2024. Nissan also saw an increase from 6 to 8 vehicles involved, while Honda and Ford maintained consistent involvement with 7 and 6 vehicles, respectively.
Top Vehicle Makes (73 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
7 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (74 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in March 2024 showed some shifts across speed zones compared to the previous year. The 45 mph zone experienced a decrease of 3 crashes, from 7 to 4, while the 55 mph zone saw a slight increase from 9 to 10 crashes, and the 65 mph zone increased from 8 to 9 crashes. A fatal crash occurred in a 25 mph zone in March 2024, which was not observed in any speed zone during March 2023.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 5 (20%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · 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: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: CANTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 36
- Total persons involved: 80
- Total vehicles involved: 73
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: March 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/canton/march-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: 2024-03-01 – 2024-03-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved