Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

519 CRASHES IN
EASTON, MA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In 2023, Easton recorded 519 total crashes, an increase of 7.7% from the 482 crashes documented in 2022. While total crashes rose, the most significant year-over-year change was the occurrence of 3 traffic fatalities in 2023, compared to zero in the prior year.

519

7.7%was 482

Total Crash Events

3

Persons Killed

141

-17.1%was 170

Persons Injured

30

76.5%was 17

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 11 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

Overall, traffic crashes in Easton trended upward from 2022 to 2023. The total number of incidents increased by 37, from 482 to 519, representing a 7.7% year-over-year rise in crash volume.

30

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023

76.5% vs prior (17)

Hit-and-run incidents increased significantly between the two periods. The total count of hit-and-run crashes rose from 17 in 2022 to 30 in 2023. This represents a 76.5% increase in the number of incidents, and the corresponding hit-and-run rate grew from 3.5% to 5.8% of all crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

2

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 4-75.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 4-75.0%

138

Motorists Injured

Prior: 162-14.8%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 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

The temporal patterns of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. Thursday was the peak day for crashes in both 2023 (90 crashes) and 2022 (85 crashes). Similarly, the 3 PM hour was the peak time in both periods, although the number of crashes during that hour decreased from 52 in 2022 to 45 in 2023.

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

The most severe crash outcomes worsened in 2023, with 3 fatal crashes recorded compared to none in 2022. Despite the increase in total crashes, the number of people injured decreased from 170 to 141. The share of crashes resulting in serious injury also declined, falling from 4.6% (22 crashes) in 2022 to 2.3% (12 crashes) in 2023.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes0.6%
Serious Injury12serious injury crashes2.3%
-45.5%prior 22
Minor Injury77minor injury crashes14.8%
-3.8%prior 80
Possible Injury27possible injury crashes5.2%
-3.6%prior 28
No Injury389no injury crashes75%
14.4%prior 340

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

While 'Failed to yield right of way' remained a leading factor, its count decreased from 112 in 2022 to 98 in 2023. Conversely, the count of crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' grew by 35.6%, from 45 to 61 incidents. Crashes involving 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' also increased in count from 23 to 36.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving115 (22.2%)-3.4%prior 119
Failed to yield right of way98 (18.9%)-12.5%prior 112
Followed too closely61 (11.8%)35.6%prior 45
Inattention42 (8.1%)20.0%prior 35
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner36 (6.9%)56.5%prior 23
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road33 (6.4%)10.0%prior 30
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway20 (3.9%)122.2%prior 9
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings19 (3.7%)35.7%prior 14
Other improper action14 (2.7%)75.0%prior 8
Distracted9 (1.7%)-18.2%prior 11

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

Crash conditions saw a shift towards more incidents on wet roads, with the count rising from 77 in 2022 to 108 in 2023. Correspondingly, the share of crashes on dry roads decreased from 78.6% to 76.3% of all incidents. While most crashes in both years occurred in daylight, the proportion of crashes in dark, lighted roadway conditions increased from 20.3% in 2022 to 23.9% in 2023.

Weather

Clear375 (72.3%)
2.5%prior 366
Rain49 (9.4%)
25.6%prior 39
Cloudy47 (9.1%)
2.2%prior 46
Cloudy/Rain12 (2.3%)
0.0%prior 12
Rain/Cloudy8 (1.5%)
Snow7 (1.3%)
40.0%prior 5
Cloudy/Snow4 (0.8%)
Rain/Snow3 (0.6%)
Fog, smog, smoke3 (0.6%)
Rain/Clear2 (0.4%)

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

Lighting

Daylight330 (63.6%)
-2.1%prior 337
Dark - lighted roadway124 (23.9%)
26.5%prior 98
Dusk27 (5.2%)
92.9%prior 14
Dark - roadway not lighted24 (4.6%)
84.6%prior 13
Dawn9 (1.7%)
-35.7%prior 14
Dark - unknown roadway lighting5 (1.0%)

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

Road Surface

Dry396 (76.3%)
4.5%prior 379
Wet108 (20.8%)
40.3%prior 77
Snow10 (1.9%)
0.0%prior 10
Ice5 (1.0%)
-64.3%prior 14

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The ranking of top vehicle makes involved in crashes shifted, with Honda moving from third to second place after its involvement increased from 71 to 113 vehicles. An analysis of person demographics reveals a notable increase in the 16-20 age group, which grew from 121 individuals involved in crashes in 2022 to 190 in 2023, becoming the largest single age cohort.

Top Vehicle Makes (908 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA148 (16.3%)
0.0%prior 148
2
HONDA113 (12.4%)
59.2%prior 71
3
FORD97 (10.7%)
7.8%prior 90
4
CHEVROLET63 (6.9%)
-10.0%prior 70
5
JEEP62 (6.8%)
47.6%prior 42
6
NISSAN55 (6.1%)
-12.7%prior 63
7
HYUNDAI38 (4.2%)
8.6%prior 35
8
GMC26 (2.9%)
52.9%prior 17
9
LEXUS22 (2.4%)
-12.0%prior 25
10
VOLKSWAGEN20 (2.2%)
-13.0%prior 23

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

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

Sex Distribution (1,070 persons with recorded sex)

Male549 (51.3%)
7.9%prior 509
Female520 (48.6%)
15.6%prior 450
X / Unspecified1 (0.1%)
0.0%prior 1

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

The 40 MPH speed zone continued to see the highest number of crashes, with the count increasing from 169 in 2022 to 203 in 2023. A significant change was the appearance of fatal crashes in specific zones. In 2023, two fatal crashes occurred in 40 MPH zones and one occurred in a 45 MPH zone, whereas no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone in 2022.

Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 2 of 203 (0.985%) · 45 mph: 1 of 38 (2.632%)

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: EASTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 519
  • Total persons involved: 1,136
  • Total vehicles involved: 908

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). "EASTON, 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/easton/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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Easton, MA Crash Report — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com