Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

70 CRASHES IN
CHARLTON, MA
DECEMBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2023

The current period (December 2024) saw 70 crashes, marking a 48.9% increase compared to 47 crashes in the prior period (December 2023). A notable shift is the absence of fatalities in the current period, down from one fatality in the prior period.

70

48.9%was 47

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

18

-5.3%was 19

Persons Injured

5

66.7%was 3

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, total crashes in December 2024 increased by 48.9%, rising from 47 crashes in December 2023 to 70 crashes. Despite this increase in total crashes, fatalities decreased from one in the prior period to zero in the current period, while total injuries remained relatively stable, decreasing slightly from 19 to 18.

5

Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2024

66.7% vs prior (3)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 3 in December 2023 to 5 in December 2024. The hit-and-run rate also saw a slight increase, rising from 6.4% in the prior period to 7.1% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

18

Motorists Injured

Prior: 19-5.3%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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 Monday (10 crashes) in December 2023 to Thursday (19 crashes) in December 2024. The peak hour for crashes also shifted, with December 2023 seeing 7 crashes at 4 p.m., while December 2024 recorded 10 crashes at 3 p.m. This indicates a shift in the busiest times for crash occurrences.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The current period recorded no fatal crashes, a decrease from one fatal crash in the prior period, which had a fatal crash rate of 2.1%. While serious injuries remained consistent at one in both periods, minor injuries increased from 8 to 9, and possible injuries decreased from 5 to 3. Crashes resulting in no injury saw a substantial increase, rising from 30 (63.8% share) in the prior period to 54 (77.1% share) in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.4%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury9minor injury crashes12.9%
12.5%prior 8
Possible Injury3possible injury crashes4.3%
-40.0%prior 5
No Injury54no injury crashes77.1%
80.0%prior 30

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, "Driving too fast for conditions" saw a significant increase, rising from 3 crashes in the prior period to 10 crashes in the current period, representing a 233% increase in count. "Followed too closely" also increased notably, from 5 crashes to 9 crashes, an 80% increase in count. Conversely, "Inattention" decreased from 8 crashes in the prior period to 5 crashes in the current period, a 37.5% decrease in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving12 (17.1%)9.1%prior 11
Driving too fast for conditions10 (14.3%)
Followed too closely9 (12.9%)80.0%prior 5
Other improper action6 (8.6%)
Inattention5 (7.1%)-37.5%prior 8
Failed to yield right of way5 (7.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner4 (5.7%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road3 (4.3%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway3 (4.3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (2.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Under weather conditions, crashes occurring in "Snow" were a prominent factor in the current period with 17 incidents, whereas "Snow" was not among the top weather conditions in the prior period. Crashes under "Daylight" conditions increased from 23 in the prior period to 37 in the current period, and "Dark - lighted roadway" crashes rose from 6 to 20. Regarding road surface, "Snow" was a factor in 27 crashes in the current period, compared to 4 crashes on "Ice" in the prior period, indicating a shift in adverse road surface conditions.

Weather

Clear27 (38.6%)
-6.9%prior 29
Snow17 (24.3%)
Rain5 (7.1%)
-28.6%prior 7
Clear/Clear5 (7.1%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow5 (7.1%)
Cloudy3 (4.3%)
-50.0%prior 6
Snow/Snow2 (2.9%)
Fog, smog, smoke1 (1.4%)
Rain/Fog, smog, smoke1 (1.4%)
Cloudy/Unknown1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight37 (53.6%)
60.9%prior 23
Dark - lighted roadway20 (29.0%)
233.3%prior 6
Dark - roadway not lighted7 (10.1%)
-41.7%prior 12
Dawn4 (5.8%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry28 (40.0%)
-3.4%prior 29
Snow27 (38.6%)
Wet15 (21.4%)
15.4%prior 13

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 78 in the prior period to 124 in the current period. Toyota vehicles involved in crashes increased from 7 to 17, making it the top make in the current period, while Ford vehicles involved increased slightly from 13 to 14. The age group 35-44 saw an increase in persons involved from 20 to 33, and the 21-25 age group increased from 17 to 27.

Top Vehicle Makes (124 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA17 (13.7%)
142.9%prior 7
2
FORD14 (11.3%)
7.7%prior 13
3
NISSAN12 (9.7%)
4
HONDA10 (8.1%)
100.0%prior 5
5
SUBARU9 (7.3%)
50.0%prior 6
6
JEEP6 (4.8%)
20.0%prior 5
7
CHEVROLET5 (4%)
8
HYUNDAI4 (3.2%)
9
MITS4 (3.2%)
10
KIA4 (3.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (136 persons with recorded sex)

Male91 (66.9%)
82.0%prior 50
Female45 (33.1%)
21.6%prior 37

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 30 mph speed zones increased from 10 in the prior period to 13 in the current period, and crashes in 40 mph zones increased from 5 to 12. Conversely, crashes in 65 mph speed zones decreased from 17 to 12. The prior period recorded one fatal crash in a 45 mph speed zone, while the current period had no fatal crashes across any speed zone.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-12-01 through 2024-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-12-01 through 2024-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: CHARLTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 70
  • Total persons involved: 151
  • Total vehicles involved: 124

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: December 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/charlton/december-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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Charlton, MA Crash Report — December 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com