ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · CHARLTON, MA · AUGUST 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/charlton/august-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
53 CRASHES IN
CHARLTON, MA
AUGUST 2023
In August 2023, CHARLTON experienced 53 total crashes, marking a 32.5% increase from the 40 crashes recorded in August 2022. Total injuries also rose significantly, from 15 to 22, representing a 46.7% increase year-over-year. The number of fatalities remained stable at 1 in both periods.
53
▲ 32.5%was 40
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
22
▲ 46.7%was 15
Persons Injured
3
▲ 50.0%was 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 · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The overall trend indicates a notable increase in crash activity in CHARLTON, with total crashes rising by 32.5% from 40 in August 2022 to 53 in August 2023. This increase represents 13 additional crashes compared to the prior year. Total injuries also saw a substantial increase, growing by 46.7% from 15 to 22.
3
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2023
▲ 50.0% vs prior (2)
Hit-and-run crashes increased from 2 in August 2022 to 3 in August 2023, representing a 50% increase in count. The hit-and-run rate also saw a slight upward trend, rising from 5.0% to 5.7% of all crashes year-over-year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Motorists Killed
22
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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 with 9 crashes in August 2022 to Friday with 13 crashes in August 2023. The peak hour also changed, moving from 5 PM with 5 crashes in the prior period to 9 AM with 7 crashes in the current period. Crashes on Tuesdays saw the largest increase, rising from 3 to 8 year-over-year.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes remained constant at 1 in both August 2022 and August 2023, though the fatal crash rate decreased from 2.5% to 1.9% due to the overall increase in crashes. Total injuries increased from 15 to 22, with minor injury crashes rising from 8 to 9 and possible injury crashes increasing from 1 to 2. The proportion of 'No Injury' crashes slightly increased from 72.5% to 75.5% of all crashes.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Several contributing factors saw increases in crash counts year-over-year; 'Inattention' crashes rose from 6 to 10 (a 66.7% increase), and 'Followed too closely' crashes increased from 6 to 8 (a 33.3% increase). 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes saw a substantial increase from 2 to 5, representing a 150% rise. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' decreased from 4 to 1.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased proportionally from 85% in August 2022 to 71.7% in August 2023, while crashes during rainy conditions (Rain, Cloudy/Rain, Rain/Cloudy, Clear/Rain) increased from 2 to 9. Crashes on wet road surfaces saw a significant proportional increase, rising from 5% to 18.9% year-over-year. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight increased from 77.5% to 86.8%, while crashes in dark conditions (roadway not lighted or lighted) decreased from 22.5% to 9.4%.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 72 in August 2022 to 94 in August 2023. 'FORD' and 'TOYOTA' were the most frequently involved makes in August 2023, both with 14 vehicles, an increase of 5 and 4 respectively from the prior year. In terms of persons involved, the 0-15 age group saw a significant increase from 2 to 12 individuals, and the 21-25 age group increased from 4 to 17 individuals. Conversely, the 65+ age group saw a decrease in involvement from 14 to 11 individuals.
Top Vehicle Makes (94 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
6 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (115 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 40 mph speed zone increased significantly from 4 in August 2022 to 14 in August 2023, a 250% increase. The 50 mph zone also saw a substantial rise in crashes, from 1 to 7, and accounted for the single fatal crash in August 2023. Conversely, crashes in the 65 mph zone decreased from 15 to 11, with the prior period's single fatality occurring in this zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 50 mph: 1 of 7 (14.286%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: CHARLTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 53
- Total persons involved: 121
- Total vehicles involved: 94
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). "CHARLTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/charlton/august-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: 2023-08-01 – 2023-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved