ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · FITCHBURG, MA · FEBRUARY 2026
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/fitchburg/february-2026-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
146 CRASHES IN
FITCHBURG, MA
FEBRUARY 2026
In February 2026, FITCHBURG, MA experienced 146 total crashes, an 8.15% increase compared to 135 crashes in February 2025. The most notable year-over-year shift was the increase in total fatalities from 0 in the prior period to 1 in the current period, marking a significant change in crash outcomes.
146
▲ 8.1%was 135
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
20
▲ 25.0%was 16
Persons Injured
15
▼ -37.5%was 24
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. 9 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash activity in FITCHBURG, MA showed an upward trend, with total crashes increasing by 8.15% from 135 to 146. Fatalities also increased from 0 to 1, while total injuries rose by 25% from 16 to 20 over the year.
15
Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2026
▼ -37.5% vs prior (24)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased from 24 in February 2025 to 15 in February 2026, representing a drop of 9 incidents. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also decreased from 17.8% to 10.3%, indicating a downward trend in such incidents.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Motorists Killed
20
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · 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 Tuesday in both periods, with an increase from 23 crashes in February 2025 to 28 crashes in February 2026. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 3p (16 crashes) in the prior period to 5p (14 crashes) in the current period, indicating a change in the busiest time for incidents.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes increased from 0 in February 2025 to 1 in February 2026, and serious injury crashes appeared with 1 incident in the current period compared to none prior. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury increased from 73.3% to 81.5%, while the proportion of crashes with any injury (fatal, serious, minor, possible) slightly increased from 10.4% to 11.6%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, "No improper driving," increased by 21 crashes from 36 to 57, maintaining its top rank. "Inattention" decreased by 9 crashes from 28 to 19, while "Other improper action" rose by 3 crashes from 8 to 11. "Made an improper turn" saw a notable increase from 1 crash in the prior period to 5 crashes in the current period.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in dry road surface conditions increased by 11 from 69 to 80, while those on icy roads decreased significantly from 13 to 4. Crashes during daylight conditions increased from 89 to 94, and those in dark-lighted roadway conditions rose from 27 to 33. The number of crashes during clear weather increased from 91 to 97.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
TOYOTA remained the top vehicle make involved in crashes, increasing from 36 to 41, while HONDA moved to second place with 34 crashes, up from 31. FORD's involvement decreased from 32 to 29, shifting its rank from second to third. There was a significant increase in persons aged 45-54 (from 21 to 43) and 65+ (from 17 to 33) involved in crashes.
Top Vehicle Makes (268 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Vehicle unit records
46 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (276 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased from 53 to 61, and in the 30 mph zone from 23 to 36. While crashes in the 55 mph zone decreased from 5 to 3, a fatal crash occurred in this zone in the current period, compared to none in the prior period. The 15 mph and 40 mph speed zones, present in the prior period, did not record any crashes in the current period.
Fatal crashes by zone: 55 mph: 1 of 3 (33.333%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28 · 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: 2026-02-01 through 2026-02-28
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2026-02-01 through 2026-02-28 (28 days)
- Geographic scope: FITCHBURG, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 146
- Total persons involved: 323
- Total vehicles involved: 268
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: February 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-02-01 to 2026-02-28. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/fitchburg/february-2026-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
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2026-02-01 – 2026-02-28
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved