Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

21 CRASHES IN
GRAFTON, MA
MARCH 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMarch 2024

In March 2025, GRAFTON experienced 21 total crashes, a decrease of 8.7% from the 23 crashes reported in March 2024. Despite the overall decrease in crash incidents, a significant year-over-year shift was observed with total fatalities increasing from 0 to 1. Total injuries also rose from 4 to 7 during the same period.

21

▼ -8.7%was 23

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

7

▲ 75.0%was 4

Persons Injured

1

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash incidents in GRAFTON decreased by 8.7%, from 23 crashes in March 2024 to 21 crashes in March 2025. However, this period saw an increase in severity, with total fatalities rising from 0 to 1, and total injuries increasing by 75% from 4 to 7.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2025

4.8% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0→%

7

Motorists Injured

Prior: 4↑75.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · 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 Friday with 5 incidents in March 2024 to Monday with 7 incidents in March 2025. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 6 PM, which saw 3 crashes in the prior period, to 3 PM, which recorded 6 crashes in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes increased from 0 in March 2024 to 1 in March 2025, marking a critical change in crash outcomes. Total injuries rose from 4 to 7 year-over-year, with serious injuries appearing in the current period (1 crash, 4.8%) where none were reported previously.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes4.8%
Serious Injury1serious injury crashes4.8%
Minor Injury1minor injury crashes4.8%
↓-50.0%prior 2
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes9.5%
↑100.0%prior 1
No Injury15no injury crashes71.4%
↓-21.1%prior 19

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The number of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased from 6 to 4 incidents year-over-year. 'Inattention' as a contributing factor decreased from 4 crashes to 3, and 'Followed too closely' decreased from 4 crashes to 1. Conversely, 'Other improper action' increased from an unlisted count in the prior period to 4 crashes in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving4 (19%)↓-33.3%prior 6
Other improper action4 (19%)
Inattention3 (14.3%)
Distracted1 (4.8%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (4.8%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (4.8%)
Visibility obstructed1 (4.8%)
Followed too closely1 (4.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in daylight conditions decreased from 19 in March 2024 to 13 in March 2025, while crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 1 to 5. The number of crashes on wet road surfaces decreased from 7 to 3, despite a minor decrease in rain-related weather conditions from 4 to 2 crashes.

Weather

Clear14 (66.7%)
↓-6.7%prior 15
Cloudy3 (14.3%)
Rain2 (9.5%)
Clear/Clear1 (4.8%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (4.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight13 (61.9%)
↓-31.6%prior 19
Dark - lighted roadway5 (23.8%)
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (14.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry18 (85.7%)
↑12.5%prior 16
Wet3 (14.3%)
↓-57.1%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (37 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA7 (18.9%)
→0.0%prior 7
2
FORD5 (13.5%)
→0.0%prior 5
3
HONDA3 (8.1%)
4
SUBARU3 (8.1%)
↓-40.0%prior 5
5
CHEVROLET3 (8.1%)
6
BUIC2 (5.4%)
7
FREIGHTLINER2 (5.4%)
8
MERCEDES-BENZ2 (5.4%)
9
NISSAN2 (5.4%)
10
FRHT1 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (39 persons with recorded sex)

Male22 (56.4%)
↓-8.3%prior 24
Female17 (43.6%)
→0.0%prior 17

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 65 mph speed zones decreased from 9 in March 2024 to 7 in March 2025, but this zone recorded 1 fatal crash in the current period compared to 0 in the prior period. Crashes in 35 mph zones doubled from 2 to 4 year-over-year, while 30 mph zones maintained 8 crashes in both periods.

Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 1 of 7 (14.286%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31 · 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: 2025-03-01 through 2025-03-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-03-01 through 2025-03-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: GRAFTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 21
  • Total persons involved: 41
  • Total vehicles involved: 37

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). "GRAFTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: March 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-03-01 to 2025-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/grafton/march-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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Grafton, MA Crash Report — March 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com