Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

61 CRASHES IN
FITCHBURG, MA
JANUARY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2021

Total crashes in FITCHBURG decreased by 45.5% year-over-year, from 112 crashes in January 2021 to 61 crashes in January 2022. This period saw a significant reduction in total injuries, which fell from 23 to 7. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

61

-45.5%was 112

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

7

-69.6%was 23

Persons Injured

1

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in FITCHBURG showed a significant downward trend year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 45.5%, from 112 to 61, and total injuries decreased by 69.6%, from 23 to 7. There were no reported fatalities in either period.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2022

0.0% vs prior (1)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained constant at 1 in both the current and prior periods. Despite the constant count, the hit-and-run rate increased from 0.9% of total crashes in the prior period to 1.6% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

7

Motorists Injured

Prior: 23-69.6%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Saturday (24 crashes) in the prior period to Monday (14 crashes) in the current period. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes moved from 1 PM (11 crashes) in the prior period to 8 AM (8 crashes) in the current period, indicating a change in temporal crash patterns.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Total injuries decreased from 23 in the prior period to 7 in the current period, with no fatal crashes reported in either year. The current period recorded 1 serious injury crash, a category not explicitly present in the prior period's breakdown. Minor injury crashes decreased from 12 to 2, and possible injury crashes decreased from 7 to 4.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.6%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes3.3%
-83.3%prior 12
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes6.6%
-42.9%prior 7
No Injury48no injury crashes78.7%
-44.2%prior 86

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The most frequent contributing factor, 'No improper driving', decreased by 50% in count, from 42 crashes to 21 crashes. 'Inattention' crashes saw an 86.7% decrease, falling from 15 to 2, while 'Followed too closely' crashes increased by 20%, from 5 to 6. 'Driving too fast for conditions' decreased by 33.3% from 6 to 4 crashes, and 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased by 50% from 6 to 3 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving21 (34.4%)-50.0%prior 42
Followed too closely6 (9.8%)20.0%prior 5
Driving too fast for conditions4 (6.6%)-33.3%prior 6
Other improper action4 (6.6%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (4.9%)-50.0%prior 6
Operating defective equipment2 (3.3%)
Inattention2 (3.3%)-86.7%prior 15
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway2 (3.3%)
Distracted2 (3.3%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (3.3%)-66.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring on dry road surfaces decreased from 67 to 26, while crashes on wet, icy, or snowy roads collectively decreased from 44 to 31. However, the proportion of crashes occurring under adverse road surface conditions (wet, icy, snow, slush) increased from 39.3% in the prior period to 50.8% in the current period. Crashes in clear weather conditions decreased from 63 to 40, and crashes in daylight decreased from 67 to 39.

Weather

Clear40 (70.2%)
-36.5%prior 63
Cloudy3 (5.3%)
-62.5%prior 8
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)3 (5.3%)
Rain/Fog, smog, smoke2 (3.5%)
Snow2 (3.5%)
-88.2%prior 17
Rain1 (1.8%)
Cloudy/Fog, smog, smoke1 (1.8%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)/Rain1 (1.8%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (1.8%)
-80.0%prior 5
Cloudy/Rain1 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight39 (69.6%)
-41.8%prior 67
Dark - lighted roadway12 (21.4%)
-60.0%prior 30
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (3.6%)
-75.0%prior 8
Dawn1 (1.8%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (1.8%)
Dusk1 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry26 (44.8%)
-61.2%prior 67
Wet16 (27.6%)
100.0%prior 8
Ice8 (13.8%)
-42.9%prior 14
Snow6 (10.3%)
-66.7%prior 18
Slush1 (1.7%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (1.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 207 to 100 year-over-year. Toyota remained the top make involved, though its count decreased from 35 to 24, while Honda dropped from the second most frequent make (31) to the fourth (9). All age groups saw a decrease in the number of persons involved in crashes, with the proportion of persons in the 45-54 age group decreasing from 11.2% to 4.3%.

Top Vehicle Makes (100 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA24 (24%)
-31.4%prior 35
2
FORD13 (13%)
-45.8%prior 24
3
CHEVROLET10 (10%)
-56.5%prior 23
4
HONDA9 (9%)
-71.0%prior 31
5
NISSAN8 (8%)
-38.5%prior 13
6
SUBARU8 (8%)
60.0%prior 5
7
HYUNDAI6 (6%)
-40.0%prior 10
8
JEEP5 (5%)
-28.6%prior 7
9
DODGE3 (3%)
-72.7%prior 11
10
GMC2 (2%)
-75.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (100 persons with recorded sex)

Male52 (52.0%)
-53.2%prior 111
Female48 (48.0%)
-50.0%prior 96

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone decreased from 48 to 30, and in the 30 mph zone, they decreased from 29 to 11. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph speed zone doubled from 3 to 6, and those in the 55 mph zone also doubled from 2 to 4. No fatal crashes were reported in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-01-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: FITCHBURG, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 61
  • Total persons involved: 117
  • Total vehicles involved: 100

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: January 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/fitchburg/january-2022-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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Fitchburg, MA Crash Report — January 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com