Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

460 CRASHES IN
FAIRHAVEN, MA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

In Fairhaven, total vehicle crashes decreased by 14.5% from 538 in 2023 to 460 in 2024. This overall reduction in collisions was accompanied by a significant drop in crash severity. The most notable year-over-year change was the elimination of traffic fatalities, which fell from 3 in the prior period to zero in the current period.

460

-14.5%was 538

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 3

Persons Killed

101

-20.5%was 127

Persons Injured

36

-5.3%was 38

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for Fairhaven indicates a downward trend year-over-year. Total crashes fell from 538 to 460, a 14.5% decrease. Similarly, the number of people injured in these incidents declined by 20.5%, from 127 in the prior year to 101 in the current year, while fatalities were reduced from 3 to 0.

36

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024

-5.3% vs prior (38)

The total number of hit-and-run crashes remained relatively stable, decreasing slightly from 38 in the prior year to 36 in the current year. However, due to the overall decline in total crashes, the hit-and-run rate trended upward. As a percentage of all crashes, hit-and-runs increased from 7.1% to 7.8%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-100.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 3-33.3%

5

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 50.0%

94

Motorists Injured

Prior: 119-21.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes showed both consistency and change. Thursday remained the peak day for crashes in both periods, though the number of incidents on that day fell from 88 to 74. However, the peak hour for crashes shifted from the 2 p.m. hour in 2023, which saw 59 crashes, to the 5 p.m. hour in 2024, which recorded 48 crashes.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity decreased significantly compared to the prior year. The number of fatal crashes dropped from 3 to 0, and the corresponding fatal crash rate fell from 0.56% to 0%. While the number of serious injury crashes increased from 6 to 8, crashes involving minor injuries decreased from 61 to 43. Overall, the proportion of crashes resulting in any injury remained relatively stable, moving from 17.5% to 16.5% of all incidents.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury8serious injury crashes1.7%
33.3%prior 6
Minor Injury43minor injury crashes9.3%
-29.5%prior 61
Possible Injury25possible injury crashes5.4%
4.2%prior 24
No Injury336no injury crashes73%
-9.4%prior 371

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Comparing contributing factors, 'Inattention' became the leading cause of crashes, with its count increasing by 68.2% from 85 incidents to 143. This displaced 'No improper driving,' which was the top category in the prior year and saw its count remain stable at 120 (down from 124). Other factors saw decreases in count, including 'Failed to yield right of way' (from 31 to 23) and 'Other improper action' (from 35 to 15).

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention143 (31.1%)68.2%prior 85
No improper driving120 (26.1%)-3.2%prior 124
Failed to yield right of way23 (5%)-25.8%prior 31
Other improper action15 (3.3%)-57.1%prior 35
Distracted12 (2.6%)-29.4%prior 17
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner10 (2.2%)-28.6%prior 14
Followed too closely9 (2%)-43.8%prior 16
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway8 (1.7%)-20.0%prior 10
Visibility obstructed8 (1.7%)-11.1%prior 9
Driving too fast for conditions8 (1.7%)33.3%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Year-over-year, a larger proportion of crashes occurred in adverse conditions despite a drop in total incidents. The share of crashes on wet roads increased from 13.0% to 19.1% of all crashes, with the count rising from 70 to 88. Similarly, crashes during daylight hours decreased as a share of the total (from 75.6% to 71.5%), while those in dark but lighted roadway conditions saw their proportion increase from 14.9% to 17.4%.

Weather

Clear338 (74.6%)
-20.1%prior 423
Rain44 (9.7%)
41.9%prior 31
Cloudy31 (6.8%)
-16.2%prior 37
Cloudy/Rain13 (2.9%)
-23.5%prior 17
Clear/Clear4 (0.9%)
Rain/Cloudy3 (0.7%)
Rain/Rain2 (0.4%)
Clear/Cloudy2 (0.4%)
-60.0%prior 5
Rain/Snow2 (0.4%)
Snow2 (0.4%)
-66.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight329 (72.3%)
-19.2%prior 407
Dark - lighted roadway80 (17.6%)
0.0%prior 80
Dark - roadway not lighted24 (5.3%)
20.0%prior 20
Dusk12 (2.6%)
-7.7%prior 13
Dawn9 (2.0%)
80.0%prior 5
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.2%)
-83.3%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry363 (79.6%)
-20.2%prior 455
Wet88 (19.3%)
25.7%prior 70
Snow4 (0.9%)
-20.0%prior 5
Ice1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent year-over-year: Toyota (135, down from 148), Ford (108, down from 112), and Honda (83, down from 100). The age distribution of persons involved in crashes was also largely stable. The 65 and older demographic saw a slight increase in its share of total persons involved, rising from 16.4% in the prior period to 17.0% in the current period.

Top Vehicle Makes (851 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA135 (15.9%)
-8.8%prior 148
2
FORD108 (12.7%)
-3.6%prior 112
3
HONDA83 (9.8%)
-17.0%prior 100
4
NISSAN57 (6.7%)
-12.3%prior 65
5
JEEP46 (5.4%)
0.0%prior 46
6
CHEVROLET42 (4.9%)
-33.3%prior 63
7
KIA40 (4.7%)
-23.1%prior 52
8
SUBARU37 (4.3%)
0.0%prior 37
9
GMC36 (4.2%)
5.9%prior 34
10
HYUNDAI27 (3.2%)
-30.8%prior 39

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (879 persons with recorded sex)

Male455 (51.8%)
-15.3%prior 537
Female424 (48.2%)
-11.9%prior 481

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes decreased across the most common speed zones, consistent with the overall trend. Collisions in 25 mph zones fell from 214 to 174, and those in 35 mph zones dropped from 146 to 117. A significant change was observed in fatal crash data by speed zone; the 3 fatal crashes in the prior year all occurred in 25 mph zones, while the current year recorded no fatalities in any speed zone.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
  • Geographic scope: FAIRHAVEN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 460
  • Total persons involved: 1,031
  • Total vehicles involved: 851

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). "FAIRHAVEN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/fairhaven/2024-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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Fairhaven, MA Crash Report — 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com