Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

247 CRASHES IN
FALL RIVER, MA
FEBRUARY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2023

Total crashes in FALL RIVER, MA, increased by 24.75% year-over-year, rising from 198 in February 2023 to 247 in February 2024. The most notable year-over-year shift was a 76.19% increase in hit-and-run crashes, which grew from 21 incidents to 37. Despite the rise in total crashes, total injuries decreased by 14.29%.

247

24.7%was 198

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

66

-14.3%was 77

Persons Injured

37

76.2%was 21

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash activity in FALL RIVER, MA, increased year-over-year from February 2023 to February 2024. Total crashes rose by 24.75%, from 198 to 247. Total injuries, however, decreased by 14.29%, from 77 to 66, while total fatalities remained at zero for both periods.

37

Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2024

76.2% vs prior (21)

Hit-and-run crashes increased by 16, rising from 21 in February 2023 to 37 in February 2024. The hit-and-run crash rate also increased by 4.4 percentage points, from 10.6% to 15% of total crashes. This indicates an upward trend in both the count and proportion of hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 5-80.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

64

Motorists Injured

Prior: 72-11.1%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · 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 Saturday in February 2023, which had 39 crashes, to Thursday in February 2024, with 55 crashes. The peak crash hour also changed from 3 PM (27 crashes) in the prior period to 5 PM (20 crashes) in the current period. This indicates a shift in the busiest times for crash occurrences.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Total fatalities remained at 0 for both February 2023 and February 2024. Total injuries decreased by 11, from 77 in the prior period to 66 in the current period. Serious injuries increased from 1 (0.5% of crashes) to 2 (0.8% of crashes), while minor injuries decreased from 38 (19.2% of crashes) to 30 (12.1% of crashes).

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes0.8%
100.0%prior 1
Minor Injury30minor injury crashes12.1%
-21.1%prior 38
Possible Injury12possible injury crashes4.9%
-36.8%prior 19
No Injury192no injury crashes77.7%
50.0%prior 128

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factor 'No improper driving' increased by 26 crashes, from 55 to 81, and its share of total crashes rose from 27.8% to 32.8%. 'Other improper action' increased by 11 crashes, from 17 to 28, and 'Followed too closely' increased by 5 crashes, from 11 to 16. 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' experienced a notable increase of 10 crashes, rising from 3 to 13. Conversely, 'Inattention' decreased by 1 crash, from 25 to 24.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving81 (32.8%)47.3%prior 55
Other improper action28 (11.3%)64.7%prior 17
Inattention24 (9.7%)-4.0%prior 25
Failed to yield right of way16 (6.5%)-5.9%prior 17
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road16 (6.5%)6.7%prior 15
Followed too closely16 (6.5%)45.5%prior 11
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings13 (5.3%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner5 (2%)-28.6%prior 7
Visibility obstructed5 (2%)
Operating defective equipment3 (1.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions increased by 56, from 119 in February 2023 to 175 in February 2024. Crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces also rose by 50, from 151 to 201, while crashes during 'Daylight' conditions increased by 36, from 120 to 156. Notably, crashes on 'Snow' road surfaces increased by 12, from 8 to 20, whereas crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces decreased by 6, from 27 to 21.

Weather

Clear175 (71.1%)
47.1%prior 119
Clear/Cloudy30 (12.2%)
-11.8%prior 34
Snow11 (4.5%)
0.0%prior 11
Cloudy5 (2.0%)
-37.5%prior 8
Clear/Unknown5 (2.0%)
Clear/Other4 (1.6%)
Rain4 (1.6%)
-50.0%prior 8
Cloudy/Rain3 (1.2%)
Cloudy/Snow3 (1.2%)
Fog, smog, smoke2 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight156 (63.9%)
30.0%prior 120
Dark - lighted roadway59 (24.2%)
1.7%prior 58
Dusk12 (4.9%)
140.0%prior 5
Dawn8 (3.3%)
Dark - roadway not lighted5 (2.0%)
0.0%prior 5
Dark - unknown roadway lighting3 (1.2%)
Other1 (0.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry201 (81.7%)
33.1%prior 151
Wet21 (8.5%)
-22.2%prior 27
Snow20 (8.1%)
150.0%prior 8
Ice4 (1.6%)
-60.0%prior 10

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 90, from 384 in February 2023 to 474 in February 2024. Toyota remained the top make involved, increasing from 48 to 69 vehicles, and Honda remained second, increasing from 51 to 55. The age group 35-44 saw the largest increase in persons involved, rising by 38 from 60 to 98, while the 16-20 age group saw a decrease of 13 persons, from 45 to 32.

Top Vehicle Makes (474 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA69 (14.6%)
43.8%prior 48
2
HONDA55 (11.6%)
7.8%prior 51
3
FORD45 (9.5%)
18.4%prior 38
4
CHEVROLET39 (8.2%)
56.0%prior 25
5
NISSAN34 (7.2%)
9.7%prior 31
6
HYUNDAI29 (6.1%)
26.1%prior 23
7
JEEP19 (4%)
46.2%prior 13
8
GMC17 (3.6%)
30.8%prior 13
9
SUBARU16 (3.4%)
128.6%prior 7
10
KIA16 (3.4%)
14.3%prior 14

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (422 persons with recorded sex)

Male237 (56.2%)
25.4%prior 189
Female185 (43.8%)
14.2%prior 162

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph zones increased significantly by 41, from 54 in February 2023 to 95 in February 2024. Crashes in 30 mph zones decreased by 6, from 94 to 88. Crashes in 65 mph zones saw an increase of 8, rising from 5 to 13, and no fatal crashes were reported in any speed zone for either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · 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: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29 (29 days)
  • Geographic scope: FALL RIVER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 247
  • Total persons involved: 561
  • Total vehicles involved: 474

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). "FALL RIVER, MA Crash Intelligence Report: February 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/fall-river/february-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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Fall River, MA Crash Report — February 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com