Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

43 CRASHES IN
GARDNER, MA
AUGUST 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2024

In August 2025, Gardner experienced 43 total crashes, a decrease of 8.51% from the 47 crashes reported in August 2024. Total injuries also declined by 20%, from 10 to 8, with no fatalities reported in either period. A notable shift in the current period is the emergence of crashes involving vulnerable users, with 1 pedestrian and 1 bicycle crash reported, compared to none in the prior year.

43

-8.5%was 47

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

8

-20.0%was 10

Persons Injured

3

200.0%was 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. 3 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

The overall trend indicates a decrease in crash activity, with total crashes falling by 8.51% from 47 in August 2024 to 43 in August 2025. Similarly, the number of total injuries decreased by 20%, from 10 in the prior period to 8 in the current period. Fatalities remained stable at zero in both comparative months.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2025

200.0% vs prior (1)

Hit-and-run crashes increased significantly year-over-year, rising from 1 crash in August 2024 to 3 crashes in August 2025. This change represents a substantial increase in the hit-and-run rate, which climbed from 2.1% in the prior period to 7% in the current period. The data indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

6

Motorists Injured

Prior: 10-40.0%

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 shifted from Thursday in August 2024, which saw 14 crashes, to Friday in August 2025, with 11 crashes. The peak crash hour also moved, from 4 PM with 8 crashes in the prior period to 5 PM with 7 crashes in the current period. This suggests a slight shift in crash concentration towards the end of the week and later in the afternoon.

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. Serious injury crashes (Severity A) remained constant at 1 crash in both periods, representing 2.1% of crashes in the prior period and 2.3% in the current period. Minor injury crashes (Severity B) decreased from 5 crashes (10.6% share) in August 2024 to 4 crashes (9.3% share) in August 2025, while the current period also reported 2 crashes with possible injuries (Severity C), a category not explicitly listed in the prior period's crash severity breakdown.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes2.3%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury4minor injury crashes9.3%
-20.0%prior 5
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes4.7%
No Injury33no injury crashes76.7%
-19.5%prior 41

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

"Inattention" remained the most frequent contributing factor, decreasing from 19 crashes in August 2024 to 13 crashes in August 2025. Crashes attributed to "Failed to yield right of way" saw a slight increase from 9 to 10, while "No improper driving" crashes increased from 4 to 7. "Distracted" driving crashes decreased from 3 to 2, and "Made an improper turn" crashes increased from 1 to 2.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention13 (30.2%)-31.6%prior 19
Failed to yield right of way10 (23.3%)11.1%prior 9
No improper driving7 (16.3%)
Made an improper turn2 (4.7%)
Distracted2 (4.7%)
Other improper action2 (4.7%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (2.3%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (2.3%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (2.3%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (2.3%)

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 showed a slight increase in their share of total crashes, from 78.7% (37 crashes) in the prior period to 81.4% (35 crashes) in the current period. Conversely, crashes on wet road surfaces decreased in count from 7 (14.9% share) in August 2024 to 3 (7.0% share) in August 2025. Crashes during daylight conditions also saw an increase in share, from 87.2% (41 crashes) in the prior period to 93.0% (40 crashes) in the current period.

Weather

Clear35 (81.4%)
-5.4%prior 37
Clear/Cloudy3 (7.0%)
Cloudy2 (4.7%)
Rain2 (4.7%)
Clear/Clear1 (2.3%)

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

Lighting

Daylight40 (95.2%)
-2.4%prior 41
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (2.4%)
Dawn1 (2.4%)

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

Road Surface

Dry40 (93.0%)
5.3%prior 38
Wet3 (7.0%)
-57.1%prior 7

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 decreased by 8.23%, from 85 in August 2024 to 78 in August 2025. Nissan, which was the top make with 15 vehicles in the prior period, was not among the top 5 in the current period, where Subaru and Ford shared the top rank with 12 vehicles each. Regarding persons involved, the 35-44 age group saw a significant increase from 10 persons to 22 persons, while the 55-64 age group decreased from 16 to 7, and the 65+ age group decreased from 20 to 11.

Top Vehicle Makes (78 vehicles)

1
SUBARU12 (15.4%)
71.4%prior 7
2
FORD12 (15.4%)
71.4%prior 7
3
HONDA11 (14.1%)
57.1%prior 7
4
CHEVROLET10 (12.8%)
66.7%prior 6
5
TOYOTA10 (12.8%)
-16.7%prior 12
6
NISSAN4 (5.1%)
-73.3%prior 15
7
JEEP4 (5.1%)
-20.0%prior 5
8
KIA2 (2.6%)
9
THMS1 (1.3%)
10
HYUNDAI1 (1.3%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (93 persons with recorded sex)

Male50 (53.8%)
-13.8%prior 58
Female43 (46.2%)
-10.4%prior 48

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 20 mph speed zones increased from 10 in August 2024 to 14 in August 2025, while 30 mph zones experienced a minor decrease from 19 to 18 crashes. Fatal crashes remained at zero across all speed zones in both periods. Notably, the prior period recorded 2 crashes in 5 mph zones, a speed limit not present in the current period's data.

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: GARDNER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 43
  • Total persons involved: 106
  • Total vehicles involved: 78

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). "GARDNER, 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/gardner/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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Gardner, MA Crash Report — August 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com