Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

41 CRASHES IN
GARDNER, MA
OCTOBER 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2024

Total crashes in October 2025 decreased by 18% to 41, down from 50 crashes in October 2024. Despite the overall reduction in crashes, serious injury crashes saw a significant increase, rising from 1 to 5 year-over-year. This indicates a shift towards more severe outcomes in the crashes that did occur.

41

-18.0%was 50

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

13

85.7%was 7

Persons Injured

3

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, total crashes decreased by 18% year-over-year, from 50 in October 2024 to 41 in October 2025. However, total injuries increased by 85.7%, rising from 7 to 13 during the same period. This suggests a trend of fewer but more injurious crashes.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2025

0.0% vs prior (3)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained constant at 3 in both October 2024 and October 2025. However, the hit-and-run rate increased from 6% of total crashes in the prior period to 7.3% in the current period. This increase in rate is due to the overall decrease in total crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

10

Motorists Injured

Prior: 666.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes remained Wednesday in both periods, though the number of crashes on Wednesdays decreased from 10 in October 2024 to 8 in October 2025. The peak hour for crashes also remained 4 PM, with crash counts decreasing from 10 to 6 during that hour. This indicates a general reduction in crash frequency across peak times.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities and fatal crashes remained at 0 in both October 2024 and October 2025. Serious injury crashes (severity 'A') increased from 1 to 5, while minor injury crashes (severity 'B') decreased from 6 to 2. The proportion of serious injury crashes rose from 2% of total crashes in the prior period to 12.2% in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury5serious injury crashes12.2%
400.0%prior 1
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes4.9%
-66.7%prior 6
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes2.4%
No Injury32no injury crashes78%
-17.9%prior 39

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor, 'Failed to yield right of way,' decreased from 15 crashes in October 2024 to 6 crashes in October 2025. 'No improper driving' also saw a decrease in count, from 15 to 9 crashes, and 'Inattention' decreased from 11 to 5 crashes. Notably, speeding-related crashes, which were 0 in the prior period, accounted for 3 crashes in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving9 (22%)-40.0%prior 15
Failed to yield right of way6 (14.6%)-60.0%prior 15
Inattention5 (12.2%)-54.5%prior 11
Distracted3 (7.3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (4.9%)
Physical impairment2 (4.9%)
Visibility obstructed2 (4.9%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (4.9%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (4.9%)
Other improper action2 (4.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 40 in October 2024 to 26 in October 2025. Conversely, crashes on wet road surfaces increased from 3 to 8 year-over-year. Crashes during daylight hours decreased from 41 to 33, while those in dark conditions with unlighted roadways remained stable at 4 crashes.

Weather

Clear26 (63.4%)
-35.0%prior 40
Cloudy/Rain4 (9.8%)
Rain4 (9.8%)
Clear/Cloudy3 (7.3%)
Cloudy3 (7.3%)
Cloudy/Unknown1 (2.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight33 (80.5%)
-19.5%prior 41
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (9.8%)
Dark - lighted roadway2 (4.9%)
-60.0%prior 5
Dawn1 (2.4%)
Dusk1 (2.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry32 (78.0%)
-31.9%prior 47
Wet8 (19.5%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (2.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 90 in October 2024 to 70 in October 2025. Among top vehicle makes, FORD-involved crashes decreased from 13 to 8, TOYOTA-involved crashes decreased from 11 to 8, and SUBARU-involved crashes decreased from 10 to 9. The rankings of top makes remained similar, with SUBARU, FORD, and TOYOTA consistently among the most involved.

Top Vehicle Makes (70 vehicles)

1
SUBARU9 (12.9%)
-10.0%prior 10
2
FORD8 (11.4%)
-38.5%prior 13
3
TOYOTA8 (11.4%)
-27.3%prior 11
4
HYUNDAI6 (8.6%)
0.0%prior 6
5
CHEVROLET5 (7.1%)
-37.5%prior 8
6
NISSAN4 (5.7%)
-33.3%prior 6
7
KIA4 (5.7%)
8
JEEP3 (4.3%)
9
DODGE2 (2.9%)
10
RAM2 (2.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (81 persons with recorded sex)

Male41 (50.6%)
-25.5%prior 55
Female40 (49.4%)
-16.7%prior 48

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 30 mph zones, which were the most frequent, slightly decreased from 16 in October 2024 to 15 in October 2025. Crashes in 20 mph zones saw a notable decrease from 12 to 5, and in 25 mph zones from 5 to 2. Crashes in 40 mph zones increased from 2 to 3, while fatal rates remained 0 across all speed zones in both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · 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: 2025-10-01 through 2025-10-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-10-01 through 2025-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: GARDNER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 41
  • Total persons involved: 91
  • Total vehicles involved: 70

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: October 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/gardner/october-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 — October 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com