Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4 CRASHES IN
CHATHAM, MA
JANUARY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2023

In January 2024, CHATHAM experienced 4 total crashes, marking a 100% increase compared to the 2 crashes recorded in January 2023. The number of injuries also doubled from 1 to 2 year-over-year, while fatalities remained at zero in both periods. A notable shift includes the appearance of 1 pedestrian crash in the current period, which was absent in the prior year.

4

100.0%was 2

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

2

100.0%was 1

Persons Injured

0

Fatal Crash Events

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

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

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a significant increase in crash activity, with total crashes rising by 100% from 2 in January 2023 to 4 in January 2024. Concurrently, total injuries also doubled, increasing from 1 to 2 over the same period. Fatalities remained stable at zero in both months.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Motorists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year, with the peak day moving from Friday in January 2023 to Saturday in January 2024, both with 1 crash. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 5 p.m. with 1 crash in January 2023 to 12 p.m. with 2 crashes in January 2024. Crashes in January 2024 were more distributed throughout the week and day, occurring on Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m., compared to January 2023 where crashes occurred only on Tuesday and Friday, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both January 2023 and January 2024. Total injuries increased from 1 in the prior period to 2 in the current period. In January 2024, one crash resulted in a serious injury and one crash resulted in a possible injury, alongside one crash with no injury. This represents a shift from January 2023, where one crash resulted in a possible injury and one crash resulted in no injury.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes25%
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes25%
0.0%prior 1
No Injury1no injury crashes25%
0.0%prior 1

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Top Contributing Factors

The factor 'Failed to yield right of way' increased from being a contributing factor in 1 crash in January 2023 to 2 crashes in January 2024, a 100% increase in count. 'No improper driving' was a factor in 1 crash in January 2024, a new entry compared to the prior period. Conversely, 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' was a factor in 1 crash in January 2023 but was not listed in January 2024.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failed to yield right of way2 (50%)
No improper driving1 (25%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Weather conditions showed a shift, with crashes occurring in clear weather increasing from 1 in January 2023 to 2 in January 2024. Crashes in cloudy weather remained stable at 1 in both periods. Additionally, 1 crash occurred in 'Cloudy/Rain' conditions in January 2024, a condition not observed in the prior period's data.

Weather

Clear2 (50.0%)
Cloudy1 (25.0%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (25.0%)

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

Road Surface

Dry2 (50.0%)
Wet2 (50.0%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (6 vehicles)

1
ALCM1 (16.7%)
2
CAM1 (16.7%)
3
FORD1 (16.7%)
4
MERCEDES-BENZ1 (16.7%)
5
SUBARU1 (16.7%)
6
TOYOTA1 (16.7%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (7 persons with recorded sex)

Male6 (85.7%)
200.0%prior 2
Female1 (14.3%)
0.0%prior 1

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

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone decreased from 2 in January 2023 to 1 in January 2024. In the current period, crashes also occurred in the 20 mph zone (1 crash) and the 40 mph zone (2 crashes), neither of which were recorded in the prior period. Fatal crashes remained at zero across all speed zones in both periods.

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: CHATHAM, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4
  • Total persons involved: 8
  • Total vehicles involved: 6

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). "CHATHAM, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/chatham/january-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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Chatham, MA Crash Report — January 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com