Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4 CRASHES IN
CHESTER, MA
AUGUST 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2022

In August 2023, CHESTER experienced 4 crashes, an increase from 3 crashes in August 2022, representing a 33.33% rise year-over-year. The most notable shift was the increase in total injuries, which rose from 0 in the prior period to 2 in the current period.

4

33.3%was 3

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

2

Persons Injured

1

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.

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 an increase in crashes year-over-year, with total crashes rising from 3 in August 2022 to 4 in August 2023. This represents a 33.33% increase in crash volume for the month.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2023

25.0% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0%

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 Wednesday in August 2022 to Friday in August 2023, while the peak hour shifted from 10p to 9p. In August 2022, crashes occurred on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, whereas in August 2023, crashes occurred on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

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

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes25%
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes25%
No Injury2no injury crashes50%

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

The factor 'No improper driving' remained stable with 1 crash in both periods. 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' emerged in August 2023 with 2 crashes, and 'Operating defective equipment' also appeared with 1 crash, neither of which were present in August 2022. Conversely, 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' was present with 1 crash in August 2022 but not in August 2023.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (50%)
No improper driving1 (25%)
Operating defective equipment1 (25%)

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

Regarding weather conditions, crashes in rainy conditions increased from 1 in August 2022 to 2 in August 2023, while crashes in clear conditions decreased from 2 to 1. Crashes occurring in daylight increased from 2 to 3, and crashes in unlit dark conditions remained at 1 in both periods. On road surfaces, crashes on dry and wet surfaces remained at 2 and 1 respectively, but a crash on 'Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel' appeared in August 2023.

Weather

Rain2 (66.7%)
Clear1 (33.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight3 (75.0%)
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (25.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry2 (50.0%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (25.0%)
Wet1 (25.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (6 vehicles)

1
DODGE1 (16.7%)
2
FORD1 (16.7%)
3
FRHT1 (16.7%)
4
JEEP1 (16.7%)
5
SUBARU1 (16.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

Sex Distribution (7 persons with recorded sex)

Male5 (71.4%)
400.0%prior 1
Female2 (28.6%)
100.0%prior 1

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 at 30 mph increased from 1 in August 2022 to 2 in August 2023. Crashes at 40 mph, which accounted for 2 incidents in August 2022, were not observed in August 2023. New crash occurrences were noted at 25 mph (1 crash) and 45 mph (1 crash) in August 2023, neither of which were present in the prior period. There were no fatalities recorded in any speed zone for either period.

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: CHESTER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4
  • Total persons involved: 7
  • 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). "CHESTER, 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/chester/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

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Chester, MA Crash Report — August 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com