Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

695 CRASHES IN
FALMOUTH, MA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

In Falmouth, total traffic crashes increased by 5.8% from 657 in 2023 to 695 in 2024. While the number of fatalities decreased from two to one, the total number of injuries rose by 21.6% from 153 to 186. The most notable shift was a 53.3% increase in the count of crashes attributed to 'followed too closely,' which rose from 45 incidents in the prior year to 69 in the current year.

695

5.8%was 657

Total Crash Events

1

-50.0%was 2

Persons Killed

186

21.6%was 153

Persons Injured

56

7.7%was 52

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 37 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

Overall, traffic crashes in Falmouth are on an upward trend year-over-year. The total number of crashes increased by 38, from 657 in 2023 to 695 in 2024, representing a 5.8% rise. This increase was accompanied by a 21.6% rise in total injuries (from 153 to 186), even as fatalities fell from two to one.

56

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024

7.7% vs prior (52)

Hit-and-run incidents showed a slight upward trend. The total count of hit-and-run crashes increased from 52 in 2023 to 56 in 2024. The corresponding hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of all crashes, also rose slightly from 7.9% to 8.1%.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-100.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

7

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 11-36.4%

15

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1225.0%

162

Motorists Injured

Prior: 13024.6%

2

Other Injured

Prior: 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 some shifts between the two periods. Friday remained the peak day for crashes in both 2023 (113 crashes) and 2024 (121 crashes). However, the peak hour for collisions shifted later in the afternoon, from 1 p.m. in 2023 (62 crashes) to 3 p.m. in 2024 (67 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

The severity of crashes changed year-over-year, with the fatal crash count decreasing from two in 2023 to one in 2024. Consequently, the fatal crash rate dropped from 0.3% to 0.1% of all crashes. While the proportion of crashes involving any injury remained stable (18.7% in 2023 vs. 19.1% in 2024), the absolute number of minor injury crashes increased from 83 to 103.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.1%
-50.0%prior 2
Serious Injury14serious injury crashes2%
0.0%prior 14
Minor Injury103minor injury crashes14.8%
24.1%prior 83
Possible Injury23possible injury crashes3.3%
-11.5%prior 26
No Injury517no injury crashes74.4%
5.3%prior 491

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

The leading contributing factors saw shifts in their counts between periods. 'Inattention' remained a primary factor but its count decreased from 189 to 169. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'followed too closely' increased by 53.3%, from 45 in 2023 to 69 in 2024. The count for 'failed to yield right of way' decreased from 96 to 81, while crashes with 'no improper driving' cited as a factor increased from 113 to 156.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention169 (24.3%)-10.6%prior 189
No improper driving156 (22.4%)38.1%prior 113
Failed to yield right of way81 (11.7%)-15.6%prior 96
Followed too closely69 (9.9%)53.3%prior 45
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner36 (5.2%)-18.2%prior 44
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road27 (3.9%)-6.9%prior 29
Distracted19 (2.7%)90.0%prior 10
Other improper action13 (1.9%)116.7%prior 6
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings12 (1.7%)33.3%prior 9
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway10 (1.4%)66.7%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

Crash conditions remained largely consistent year-over-year, with the vast majority of incidents in both periods occurring in daylight and on dry roads. In 2024, 84.5% of crashes happened on dry surfaces, compared to 83.6% in 2023. Similarly, 74.5% of crashes in 2024 occurred in clear weather, a figure nearly identical to the 76.4% reported in the prior year, indicating no significant shift in the proportion of adverse-condition crashes.

Weather

Clear518 (75.4%)
3.2%prior 502
Clear/Other45 (6.6%)
150.0%prior 18
Cloudy43 (6.3%)
4.9%prior 41
Rain29 (4.2%)
-31.0%prior 42
Cloudy/Rain9 (1.3%)
-59.1%prior 22
Snow9 (1.3%)
Rain/Cloudy7 (1.0%)
Cloudy/Other5 (0.7%)
0.0%prior 5
Clear/Clear4 (0.6%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow3 (0.4%)

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

Lighting

Daylight518 (75.3%)
7.0%prior 484
Dark - lighted roadway92 (13.4%)
-1.1%prior 93
Dark - roadway not lighted48 (7.0%)
4.3%prior 46
Dusk12 (1.7%)
33.3%prior 9
Dawn10 (1.5%)
11.1%prior 9
Dark - unknown roadway lighting8 (1.2%)
-33.3%prior 12

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

Road Surface

Dry587 (85.3%)
6.9%prior 549
Wet77 (11.2%)
-17.2%prior 93
Snow18 (2.6%)
Water (standing, moving)2 (0.3%)
Ice2 (0.3%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.1%)
Slush1 (0.1%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The distribution of vehicle makes involved in crashes was stable year-over-year, with Toyota, Ford, and Honda consistently being the top three most frequent makes in both 2023 and 2024. The count of Toyotas involved increased from 213 to 234. The 65+ age group represented the largest number of persons involved in crashes in both years, though their count decreased slightly from 345 in 2023 to 329 in 2024.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,240 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA234 (18.9%)
9.9%prior 213
2
FORD130 (10.5%)
0.8%prior 129
3
HONDA103 (8.3%)
10.8%prior 93
4
CHEVROLET88 (7.1%)
1.1%prior 87
5
JEEP67 (5.4%)
6.3%prior 63
6
SUBARU64 (5.2%)
28.0%prior 50
7
NISSAN58 (4.7%)
-22.7%prior 75
8
GMC52 (4.2%)
-13.3%prior 60
9
HYUNDAI40 (3.2%)
33.3%prior 30
10
VOLKSWAGEN28 (2.3%)
16.7%prior 24

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

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

Sex Distribution (1,355 persons with recorded sex)

Male793 (58.5%)
10.0%prior 721
Female562 (41.5%)
-10.7%prior 629

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

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted between the two years. Crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 214 to 168, while those in 40 mph zones increased from 69 to 102. Fatal crashes occurred in lower speed zones in both periods, with one fatality in a 25 mph zone in 2024, compared to one in a 25 mph zone and one in a 30 mph zone in 2023.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 44 (2.273%)

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: FALMOUTH, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 695
  • Total persons involved: 1,513
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,240

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). "FALMOUTH, 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/falmouth/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

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Falmouth, MA Crash Report — 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com