Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

21 CRASHES IN
FRANKLIN, MA
AUGUST 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2024

In August 2025, Franklin experienced 21 crashes, marking a 23.5% increase compared to the 17 crashes reported in August 2024. Notably, DUI-related crashes, which were absent in August 2024, appeared with 1 incident in August 2025.

21

23.5%was 17

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

7

16.7%was 6

Persons Injured

0

Fatal Crash Events

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.

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 incidents in Franklin show an upward trend, increasing by 23.5% from 17 crashes in August 2024 to 21 crashes in August 2025. This represents an increase of 4 crashes year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

7

Motorists Injured

Prior: 616.7%

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 temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. In August 2024, the peak day for crashes was Thursday with 6 incidents, whereas in August 2025, Wednesday became the peak day, also with 6 crashes. The peak crash hour also changed from 7p with 2 crashes in August 2024 to 4p with 3 crashes in August 2025.

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

Fatal crashes remained at zero in both August 2024 and August 2025. While total injuries increased from 6 to 7, the distribution of injury severity changed. In August 2024, there was 1 serious injury (5.9% of crashes), 1 minor injury (5.9%), and 2 possible injuries (11.8%), but in August 2025, no serious injuries were reported, with 6 minor injuries (28.6%) and 1 possible injury (4.8%).

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury6minor injury crashes28.6%
500.0%prior 1
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes4.8%
-50.0%prior 2
No Injury14no injury crashes66.7%
7.7%prior 13

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 most frequent contributing factor in both periods was 'No improper driving,' increasing from 6 incidents in August 2024 to 8 incidents in August 2025. 'Failed to yield right of way' remained constant at 3 incidents in both periods, while 'Inattention' decreased from 3 incidents to 2 incidents. New factors like 'Followed too closely' (3 incidents) and 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' (2 incidents) emerged in August 2025, replacing factors such as 'Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway' (2 incidents) and 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' (1 incident) from the prior year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving8 (38.1%)33.3%prior 6
Followed too closely3 (14.3%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (14.3%)
Inattention2 (9.5%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (9.5%)
Operating defective equipment1 (4.8%)
Wrong side or wrong way1 (4.8%)

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 predominantly occurred in clear weather conditions in both periods, accounting for 18 of 21 crashes (85.7%) in August 2025 and 15 of 17 crashes (88.2%) in August 2024. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight increased from 13 of 17 crashes (76.5%) in August 2024 to 19 of 21 crashes (90.5%) in August 2025. Wet road conditions remained consistent, with 1 crash reported in each period.

Weather

Clear/Clear10 (47.6%)
Clear8 (38.1%)
-27.3%prior 11
Cloudy2 (9.5%)
Rain1 (4.8%)

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

Lighting

Daylight19 (90.5%)
46.2%prior 13
Dark - lighted roadway2 (9.5%)

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

Road Surface

Dry20 (95.2%)
25.0%prior 16
Wet1 (4.8%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (40 vehicles)

1
FORD7 (17.5%)
2
TOYOTA6 (15%)
0.0%prior 6
3
BMW5 (12.5%)
4
CHEVROLET4 (10%)
5
HONDA3 (7.5%)
-50.0%prior 6
6
SUBARU2 (5%)
7
VOLKSWAGEN2 (5%)
8
KIA2 (5%)
9
TALARIA STING1 (2.5%)
10
VOLVO1 (2.5%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (41 persons with recorded sex)

Male31 (75.6%)
82.4%prior 17
Female10 (24.4%)
-52.4%prior 21

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

In August 2025, 9 crashes occurred in reported speed zones, compared to 6 crashes in August 2024. Crashes in 40 mph zones increased from 3 incidents in August 2024 to 4 incidents in August 2025, and crashes in 65 mph zones increased from 1 incident to 2 incidents. New crash occurrences were noted in 30 mph (2 crashes) and 35 mph (1 crash) zones in August 2025, while 25 mph (1 crash) and 45 mph (1 crash) zones, which saw crashes in August 2024, did not report any in August 2025.

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: FRANKLIN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 21
  • Total persons involved: 44
  • Total vehicles involved: 40

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: 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/franklin/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

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