Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4 CRASHES IN
HARDWICK, MA
FEBRUARY 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2021

In February 2022, Hardwick experienced 4 crashes, a 100% increase compared to the 2 crashes reported in February 2021. Despite this rise in crash incidents, total injuries decreased by 100%, falling from 1 injury in the prior period to 0 in the current period. The most notable shift was the doubling of total crashes year-over-year.

4

100.0%was 2

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

0

-100.0%was 1

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. 4 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Total crashes in Hardwick increased significantly year-over-year, rising from 2 crashes in February 2021 to 4 crashes in February 2022, representing a 100% increase. Conversely, total injuries saw a positive trend, decreasing by 100% from 1 injury in the prior period to 0 injuries in the current period.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year. In February 2021, all 2 crashes occurred on Wednesday, with a peak hour at 2 PM (1 crash); in February 2022, crashes were more evenly distributed across Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with 1 crash on each day. The peak hour for crashes in February 2022 was 7 PM, with 2 crashes, a shift from the prior period's afternoon peak.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factors for crashes showed changes year-over-year. 'No improper driving' crashes increased from 1 in February 2021 to 3 in February 2022, representing a 200% increase in count and growing from 50% to 75% of all crashes. The factor 'Other improper action,' which accounted for 1 crash (50% share) in the prior period, was not present in the current period, while 'Inattention' emerged as a factor in 1 crash (25% share) in February 2022.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving3 (75%)
Inattention1 (25%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Regarding lighting conditions, crashes occurring in 'Daylight' increased from 1 in February 2021 to 2 in February 2022. Additionally, crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' and 'Dark - roadway not lighted' each accounted for 1 crash in February 2022, conditions not present in the prior period's data. Data for weather and road surface conditions were not consistently available for comparison across both periods.

Weather

Clear3 (75.0%)
Cloudy1 (25.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight2 (50.0%)
Dark - lighted roadway1 (25.0%)
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (25.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Lighting condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (5 vehicles)

1
AUDI1 (20%)
2
FORD1 (20%)
3
HONDA1 (20%)
4
KIA1 (20%)
5
NISSAN1 (20%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Vehicle unit records

Sex Distribution (7 persons with recorded sex)

Male6 (85.7%)
Female1 (14.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones changed between the two periods. Crashes occurring in 40 mph zones remained constant at 1 crash in both February 2021 and February 2022. However, crashes in 45 mph zones (1 crash) from the prior period were not observed in the current period, while new crashes occurred in 25 mph (1 crash) and 35 mph (2 crashes) zones in February 2022. No fatal crashes were reported in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28 · 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: 2022-02-01 through 2022-02-28
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-02-01 through 2022-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: HARDWICK, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4
  • Total persons involved: 7
  • Total vehicles involved: 5

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). "HARDWICK, MA Crash Intelligence Report: February 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-02-01 to 2022-02-28. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/hardwick/february-2022-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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Hardwick, MA Crash Report — February 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com