ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · FRANKLIN, MA · 2023
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/franklin/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
278 CRASHES IN
FRANKLIN, MA
2023
In Franklin, total traffic crashes remained nearly stable, decreasing by 1.4% from 282 in 2022 to 278 in 2023. Despite this stability in overall crash volume, the number of people injured in these incidents increased by 19.1%, rising from 89 to 106. The most notable shift was a 54.2% increase in the count of crashes attributed to inattention.
278
▼ -1.4%was 282
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
106
▲ 19.1%was 89
Persons Injured
12
▼ -40.0%was 20
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. 7 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crash volume in Franklin saw a slight decrease of 1.4% from 2022 to 2023, with total incidents falling from 282 to 278. However, the severity of outcomes worsened, as the total number of injuries rose by 19.1% from 89 to 106. The number of fatalities remained unchanged, with one person killed in each period.
12
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▼ -40.0% vs prior (20)
The number of hit-and-run incidents decreased significantly year-over-year. In 2023, there were 12 hit-and-run crashes, a 40% reduction from the 20 recorded in 2022. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, representing the percentage of all crashes that were hit-and-runs, fell from 7.1% in 2022 to 4.3% in 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
103
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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 years. The peak day for crashes moved from Wednesday (49 crashes) in 2022 to Thursday (47 crashes) in 2023. The afternoon commute hour of 3 p.m. remained the single most frequent time for crashes in both years, with incidents during this hour increasing from 23 in 2022 to 29 in 2023.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The number of fatal crashes remained constant, with one such incident recorded in both 2022 and 2023. The proportion of crashes resulting in some form of injury saw a slight increase, from 24.1% of all crashes in 2022 to 25.2% in 2023. Specifically, the count of serious injury crashes rose from 4 to 5, and minor injury crashes increased from 36 to 39 year-over-year.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors cited in crashes were consistent across both years: 'No improper driving,' 'Failed to yield right of way,' and 'Inattention.' However, the count of crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased substantially by 54.2%, rising from 24 incidents in 2022 to 37 in 2023. Crashes involving 'Failed to yield right of way' also grew in count from 38 to 46, while those related to 'Disregarded traffic signs' decreased from 20 to 14.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The proportion of crashes occurring during adverse weather conditions decreased, with 11.2% of crashes in 2023 happening in rain or snow, compared to 17.0% in 2022. Similarly, incidents on non-dry road surfaces like wet or snow-covered roads accounted for 16.5% of crashes in 2023, down from 20.6% the prior year. Conversely, the share of crashes in dark or low-light conditions (dusk/dawn) increased from 27.3% in 2022 to 31.3% in 2023.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The ranking of vehicle makes involved in crashes shifted between periods. While Toyota remained the most common make (increasing from 73 to 81 vehicles), Honda's involvement grew, moving it from the fifth to the second-ranked make. Looking at the age of persons involved, the share of those aged 16-25 decreased from 25.0% of all involved persons in 2022 to 22.8% in 2023.
Top Vehicle Makes (518 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
26 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (594 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes shifted away from higher speed zones in 2023 compared to the prior year. The number of crashes recorded in 65 mph zones decreased from 51 to 36, and incidents in the 30-40 mph range fell from 133 to 116. The single fatal crash in both 2022 and 2023 occurred in a 30 mph speed zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 46 (2.174%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: FRANKLIN, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 278
- Total persons involved: 632
- Total vehicles involved: 518
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). "FRANKLIN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/franklin/2023-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved