Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

143 CRASHES IN
CHICOPEE, MA
MARCH 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstMarch 2023

In March 2024, Chicopee experienced 143 total crashes, marking a 5.3% decrease compared to the 151 crashes reported in March 2023. The most notable year-over-year shift was the absence of traffic fatalities in March 2024, down from one fatality in March 2023. Total injuries also saw a reduction, decreasing from 53 to 44.

143

-5.3%was 151

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

44

-17.0%was 53

Persons Injured

23

-4.2%was 24

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

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

Overall, crash data for March shows a downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing by 8 incidents, representing a 5.3% reduction. This decline is also reflected in a decrease in total injuries from 53 to 44 and a significant reduction in fatalities from one to zero.

23

Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2024

-4.2% vs prior (24)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 24 in March 2023 to 23 in March 2024. Despite this slight decrease in count, the hit-and-run rate saw a marginal increase from 15.9% to 16.1% of all crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

42

Motorists Injured

Prior: 52-19.2%

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 peak day for crashes shifted from Friday with 29 incidents in March 2023 to Saturday with 24 incidents in March 2024. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 9 AM with 14 incidents in March 2023 to 4 PM with 15 incidents 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

Fatal crashes decreased from 1 (0.7% of total crashes) in March 2023 to 0 in March 2024. While minor injury crashes decreased from 27 (17.9%) to 19 (13.3%), serious injury crashes slightly increased from 2 (1.3%) to 3 (2.1%). Possible injury crashes also saw an increase from 8 (5.3%) to 10 (7%) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes2.1%
50.0%prior 2
Minor Injury19minor injury crashes13.3%
-29.6%prior 27
Possible Injury10possible injury crashes7%
25.0%prior 8
No Injury105no injury crashes73.4%
-3.7%prior 109

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 count of 'No improper driving' as a contributing factor decreased from 40 to 29 crashes. 'Failed to yield right of way' saw an increase in count from 12 to 18 crashes, while 'Inattention' increased slightly from 17 to 18 crashes. 'Driving too fast for conditions' decreased significantly from 7 to 2 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving29 (20.3%)-27.5%prior 40
Inattention18 (12.6%)5.9%prior 17
Failed to yield right of way18 (12.6%)50.0%prior 12
Followed too closely13 (9.1%)-7.1%prior 14
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road11 (7.7%)0.0%prior 11
Other improper action9 (6.3%)-18.2%prior 11
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings7 (4.9%)0.0%prior 7
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner7 (4.9%)40.0%prior 5
Distracted4 (2.8%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit4 (2.8%)

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

Crashes occurring under adverse weather conditions (non-clear) increased in proportion from 37.7% in March 2023 to 50.3% in March 2024. Similarly, the proportion of crashes occurring during non-dry road surface conditions increased from 19.9% to 26.6%. The proportion of crashes in dark, dusk, or dawn lighting conditions also rose from 25.8% to 30.1%.

Weather

Clear71 (49.7%)
-24.5%prior 94
Cloudy25 (17.5%)
8.7%prior 23
Rain22 (15.4%)
266.7%prior 6
Cloudy/Rain6 (4.2%)
Clear/Unknown4 (2.8%)
Clear/Cloudy4 (2.8%)
Cloudy/Unknown3 (2.1%)
Clear/Other2 (1.4%)
Unknown/Other1 (0.7%)
Clear/Rain1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight98 (68.5%)
-10.1%prior 109
Dark - lighted roadway34 (23.8%)
0.0%prior 34
Dark - roadway not lighted6 (4.2%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (1.4%)
Dusk2 (1.4%)
Dawn1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry104 (73.2%)
-12.6%prior 119
Wet37 (26.1%)
117.6%prior 17
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Among top vehicle makes involved in crashes, HONDA, TOYOTA, and FORD all saw a decrease in their counts year-over-year. HONDA decreased from 46 to 41, TOYOTA from 37 to 22, and FORD from 35 to 26. Regarding person demographics, there was a decrease in the number of persons involved in crashes across most age groups, notably a drop from 73 to 44 persons in the 26-34 age group and from 41 to 25 persons in the 65+ age group.

Top Vehicle Makes (272 vehicles)

1
HONDA41 (15.1%)
-10.9%prior 46
2
FORD26 (9.6%)
-25.7%prior 35
3
NISSAN22 (8.1%)
15.8%prior 19
4
TOYOTA22 (8.1%)
-40.5%prior 37
5
HYUNDAI22 (8.1%)
10.0%prior 20
6
CHEVROLET21 (7.7%)
-16.0%prior 25
7
DODGE9 (3.3%)
80.0%prior 5
8
JEEP8 (2.9%)
-27.3%prior 11
9
LEXUS7 (2.6%)
10
VOLKSWAGEN7 (2.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (268 persons with recorded sex)

Male151 (56.3%)
-6.8%prior 162
Female117 (43.7%)
-27.8%prior 162

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 25 mph zones decreased from 54 to 46, and in 30 mph zones from 46 to 43. Crashes in 55 mph zones also decreased from 10 to 8, while 35 mph zones remained stable at 17 crashes. The single fatal crash recorded in March 2023 occurred in a 35 mph zone, with no fatalities reported in any speed zone in March 2024.

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: CHICOPEE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 143
  • Total persons involved: 335
  • Total vehicles involved: 272

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). "CHICOPEE, 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/chicopee/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

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Chicopee, MA Crash Report — March 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com