Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

426 CRASHES IN
DANVERS, MA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In 2023, Danvers recorded 426 total traffic crashes, a 10.9% decrease from the 478 crashes reported in 2022. Despite the overall drop in incidents, the number of hit-and-run crashes more than doubled, increasing from 12 in 2022 to 27 in 2023. Total injuries also rose from 142 to 164, an increase of 15.5%.

426

-10.9%was 478

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

164

15.5%was 142

Persons Injured

27

125.0%was 12

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend in traffic crashes in Danvers shows a year-over-year decline. Total incidents fell by 10.9%, from 478 in 2022 to 426 in 2023. However, while the total number of crashes decreased, the number of people injured in these incidents increased by 15.5%, rising from 142 to 164.

27

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023

125.0% vs prior (12)

Hit-and-run incidents increased substantially year-over-year. The total count of hit-and-run crashes rose by 125%, from 12 in 2022 to 27 in 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, which measures the percentage of all crashes that are hit-and-runs, more than doubled from 2.5% to 6.3%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

5

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 6-16.7%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

156

Motorists Injured

Prior: 13416.4%

2

Other Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Temporal crash patterns shifted between the two periods. In 2023, the peak day for crashes was Wednesday with 72 incidents, a change from 2022 when Friday was the peak day with 81 crashes. The busiest hour also shifted slightly, moving from 3 p.m. in 2022 (46 crashes) to 4 p.m. in 2023 (42 crashes).

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There were no fatal crashes recorded in either 2022 or 2023. However, the proportion of crashes resulting in some level of injury increased from 24.7% of all crashes in 2022 to 31.9% in 2023. The count of crashes involving serious injuries rose from 5 to 9, and those with minor injuries increased from 86 to 99.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury9serious injury crashes2.1%
80.0%prior 5
Minor Injury99minor injury crashes23.2%
15.1%prior 86
Possible Injury28possible injury crashes6.6%
3.7%prior 27
No Injury286no injury crashes67.1%
-19.2%prior 354

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

In both 2022 and 2023, 'Inattention' was the most cited improper driving factor, with its count increasing from 54 to 59. Notably, crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' saw a significant decrease in count, falling by 40.4% from 47 incidents in 2022 to 28 in 2023. Meanwhile, crashes where 'No improper driving' was noted increased from a count of 81 to 88.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving88 (20.7%)8.6%prior 81
Inattention59 (13.8%)9.3%prior 54
Failed to yield right of way32 (7.5%)-17.9%prior 39
Followed too closely28 (6.6%)-40.4%prior 47
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner16 (3.8%)6.7%prior 15
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road15 (3.5%)66.7%prior 9
Other improper action15 (3.5%)-16.7%prior 18
Driving too fast for conditions12 (2.8%)-14.3%prior 14
Over-correcting/over-steering7 (1.6%)-22.2%prior 9
Physical impairment7 (1.6%)40.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The distribution of crashes across environmental conditions remained broadly similar year-over-year. The proportion of crashes occurring on dry road surfaces decreased from 78.7% in 2022 to 75.8% in 2023, with the absolute count of crashes on wet roads increasing from 69 to 83. Crashes in daylight conditions accounted for approximately 70% of all incidents in both periods.

Weather

Clear263 (62.0%)
-16.0%prior 313
Cloudy46 (10.8%)
-4.2%prior 48
Rain39 (9.2%)
85.7%prior 21
Clear/Clear30 (7.1%)
-26.8%prior 41
Cloudy/Rain11 (2.6%)
57.1%prior 7
Snow9 (2.1%)
12.5%prior 8
Clear/Cloudy4 (0.9%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)4 (0.9%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)3 (0.7%)
-40.0%prior 5
Rain/Cloudy3 (0.7%)
-57.1%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight296 (69.6%)
-11.9%prior 336
Dark - lighted roadway87 (20.5%)
-17.9%prior 106
Dark - roadway not lighted26 (6.1%)
36.8%prior 19
Dusk12 (2.8%)
9.1%prior 11
Dawn2 (0.5%)
Other2 (0.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry323 (75.8%)
-14.1%prior 376
Wet83 (19.5%)
20.3%prior 69
Snow14 (3.3%)
-22.2%prior 18
Ice4 (0.9%)
-69.2%prior 13
Slush1 (0.2%)
Water (standing, moving)1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained Toyota, Honda, and Ford in both years, though their order shifted; Toyota (120 vehicles) became the most common make in 2023, surpassing Honda (101 vehicles), which was the top make in 2022 (152 vehicles). A review of person demographics shows a decrease in the share of individuals aged 16-20, from 13.5% of all persons in 2022 to 10.5% in 2023. Conversely, the share of persons aged 65 and older increased from 12.9% to 13.5%.

Top Vehicle Makes (784 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA120 (15.3%)
1.7%prior 118
2
HONDA101 (12.9%)
-33.6%prior 152
3
FORD79 (10.1%)
-23.3%prior 103
4
CHEVROLET59 (7.5%)
-11.9%prior 67
5
JEEP46 (5.9%)
-30.3%prior 66
6
NISSAN46 (5.9%)
-33.3%prior 69
7
SUBARU37 (4.7%)
8.8%prior 34
8
HYUNDAI27 (3.4%)
12.5%prior 24
9
VOLKSWAGEN22 (2.8%)
-26.7%prior 30
10
MAZDA20 (2.6%)
17.6%prior 17

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (874 persons with recorded sex)

Female442 (50.6%)
-7.9%prior 480
Male432 (49.4%)
-25.4%prior 579

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

There were no fatalities in any speed zone for either period. The distribution of crashes across different speed zones shows a shift away from lower-speed areas. In 2022, 52.3% of crashes with a recorded speed limit occurred in zones of 30 mph or less; this share fell to 46.1% in 2023. Conversely, the proportion of crashes in zones of 50 mph or higher saw a slight increase, rising from 23.8% in 2022 to 25.1% in 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: DANVERS, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 426
  • Total persons involved: 1,105
  • Total vehicles involved: 784

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). "DANVERS, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/danvers/2023-annual-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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Danvers, MA Crash Report — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com