Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

118 CRASHES IN
FITCHBURG, MA
AUGUST 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2024

In August 2025, FITCHBURG, MA experienced 118 total crashes, an 11.32% increase compared to 106 crashes in August 2024. Total fatalities rose from 0 in August 2024 to 1 in August 2025, marking a significant change in crash outcomes year-over-year. Total injuries also saw a slight increase from 22 to 23 during this period.

118

11.3%was 106

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

23

4.5%was 22

Persons Injured

18

63.6%was 11

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash activity in FITCHBURG, MA showed an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing from 106 in August 2024 to 118 in August 2025. This represents an 11.32% rise in the total number of incidents. Fatalities, specifically, increased from 0 to 1, while total injuries slightly rose from 22 to 23.

18

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2025

63.6% vs prior (11)

Hit-and-run crashes increased significantly from 11 in August 2024 to 18 in August 2025, representing a 63.64% increase in count. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate rose from 10.4% to 15.3% of all crashes year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

20

Motorists Injured

Prior: 22-9.1%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes remained Friday in both August 2024 and August 2025, with 22 crashes reported on this day in both periods. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 3 PM with 13 crashes in August 2024 to 4 PM with 15 crashes in August 2025. There was a notable increase in crashes on Sundays (from 8 to 15) and Mondays (from 9 to 19) year-over-year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The most significant change in crash severity was the increase in fatal crashes from 0 in August 2024 to 1 in August 2025, resulting in 1 fatality compared to 0 previously. Serious injuries increased from 1 to 2, and possible injuries increased from 4 to 8. Minor injuries, however, saw a decrease from 14 to 12 year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.8%
Serious Injury2serious injury crashes1.7%
100.0%prior 1
Minor Injury12minor injury crashes10.2%
-14.3%prior 14
Possible Injury8possible injury crashes6.8%
100.0%prior 4
No Injury87no injury crashes73.7%
14.5%prior 76

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor shifted from 'Inattention' in August 2024 (20 crashes) to 'No improper driving' in August 2025 (35 crashes), representing a 105.88% increase in count for the latter. 'Inattention' crashes increased by 2, from 20 to 22. Conversely, 'Followed too closely' decreased from 11 crashes to 9 crashes, and 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased from 13 crashes to 8 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving35 (29.7%)105.9%prior 17
Inattention22 (18.6%)10.0%prior 20
Followed too closely9 (7.6%)-18.2%prior 11
Other improper action9 (7.6%)80.0%prior 5
Failed to yield right of way8 (6.8%)-38.5%prior 13
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings4 (3.4%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (3.4%)
Made an improper turn3 (2.5%)-40.0%prior 5
Distracted3 (2.5%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (1.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions increased from 82 in August 2024 to 99 in August 2025. Similarly, crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces rose from 90 to 110. Crashes in 'Rain' conditions decreased from 8 to 4, and crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces decreased from 14 to 6 year-over-year.

Weather

Clear99 (85.3%)
20.7%prior 82
Cloudy6 (5.2%)
-33.3%prior 9
Clear/Clear5 (4.3%)
Rain4 (3.4%)
-50.0%prior 8
Clear/Cloudy1 (0.9%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight88 (76.5%)
12.8%prior 78
Dark - lighted roadway14 (12.2%)
27.3%prior 11
Dark - roadway not lighted8 (7.0%)
-27.3%prior 11
Dawn2 (1.7%)
Dusk2 (1.7%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry110 (94.8%)
22.2%prior 90
Wet6 (5.2%)
-57.1%prior 14

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 196 in August 2024 to 220 in August 2025. While Toyota remained a top make, its involvement decreased from 39 to 35, whereas Ford vehicles saw a substantial increase from 11 to 25. Honda also experienced a rise in involvement from 23 to 28 vehicles.

Top Vehicle Makes (220 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA35 (15.9%)
-10.3%prior 39
2
HONDA28 (12.7%)
21.7%prior 23
3
FORD25 (11.4%)
127.3%prior 11
4
CHEVROLET18 (8.2%)
-14.3%prior 21
5
SUBARU12 (5.5%)
50.0%prior 8
6
NISSAN11 (5%)
-15.4%prior 13
7
HYUNDAI10 (4.5%)
-23.1%prior 13
8
GMC9 (4.1%)
9
JEEP7 (3.2%)
-12.5%prior 8
10
AUDI6 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (221 persons with recorded sex)

Male126 (57.0%)
9.6%prior 115
Female95 (43.0%)
8.0%prior 88

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased from 38 in August 2024 to 51 in August 2025. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph speed zone decreased from 13 to 7 year-over-year. A fatal crash occurred in a 35 mph zone in August 2025, while no fatalities were recorded in any speed zone in August 2024.

Fatal crashes by zone: 35 mph: 1 of 7 (14.286%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · 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: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: FITCHBURG, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 118
  • Total persons involved: 261
  • Total vehicles involved: 220

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). "FITCHBURG, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/fitchburg/august-2025-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

Fitchburg, MA Crash Report — August 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com