Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

232 CRASHES IN
HOLLISTON, MA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

In 2023, Holliston recorded 232 total traffic crashes, a slight increase from the 230 crashes reported in 2022. While the overall crash volume remained stable, the most significant year-over-year change was the occurrence of two fatalities in 2023, compared to none in the prior year. Total reported injuries also rose by 25.8%, increasing from 62 in 2022 to 78 in 2023.

232

0.9%was 230

Total Crash Events

2

Persons Killed

78

25.8%was 62

Persons Injured

0

-100.0%was 1

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (2) 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. 4 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Traffic crash volume in Holliston remained relatively stable year-over-year, with a minor increase from 230 incidents in 2022 to 232 in 2023. However, the severity of these incidents worsened, as total injuries increased by 25.8% from 62 to 78. The city also recorded two fatalities after having none in the previous year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

75

Motorists Injured

Prior: 6123.0%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes showed some shifts between the two periods. The peak hour for collisions remained consistent at 4 p.m. in both 2022 and 2023, though the number of crashes in that hour decreased from 28 to 24. The most common day for crashes changed from Friday (39 crashes) in 2022 to Monday (48 crashes) in 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity increased in 2023 compared to the prior year, with the city recording one fatal crash resulting in two deaths after having no fatal crashes in 2022. The proportion of crashes involving injuries also grew, with 26.3% of all crashes in 2023 resulting in some level of injury, up from 18.7% in 2022. This included an increase in the share of both serious injury crashes (from 1.7% to 2.6%) and minor injury crashes (from 10% to 16.4%).

Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 1 fatal crash events resulted in 2 persons killed.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes0.4%
Serious Injury6serious injury crashes2.6%
50.0%prior 4
Minor Injury38minor injury crashes16.4%
65.2%prior 23
Possible Injury17possible injury crashes7.3%
6.3%prior 16
No Injury166no injury crashes71.6%
-9.8%prior 184

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes shifted between the two years. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' saw a notable reduction in count, falling by 48.3% from 29 in 2022 to 15 in 2023. Conversely, the count of crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' rose from 14 to 18, and incidents involving a 'Distracted' driver increased by 200%, from 4 to 12.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving79 (34.1%)-12.2%prior 90
Followed too closely18 (7.8%)28.6%prior 14
Inattention15 (6.5%)-48.3%prior 29
Failed to yield right of way14 (6%)27.3%prior 11
Distracted12 (5.2%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road11 (4.7%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner6 (2.6%)-33.3%prior 9
Fatigued/asleep5 (2.2%)
Glare4 (1.7%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit3 (1.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The conditions under which crashes occurred saw some changes year-over-year. In 2023, a larger proportion of crashes happened on dry roads (79.7%) compared to 2022 (70.4%). Consequently, the share of crashes on adverse road surfaces like wet, snow, or ice decreased from 29.6% of all incidents in 2022 to 20.3% in 2023. The distribution of crashes by lighting conditions remained largely similar, with approximately two-thirds of incidents in both years occurring during daylight.

Weather

Clear153 (65.9%)
8.5%prior 141
Cloudy33 (14.2%)
10.0%prior 30
Rain12 (5.2%)
50.0%prior 8
Clear/Other9 (3.9%)
28.6%prior 7
Rain/Cloudy4 (1.7%)
Cloudy/Rain4 (1.7%)
-66.7%prior 12
Snow4 (1.7%)
-60.0%prior 10
Snow/Cloudy3 (1.3%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)2 (0.9%)
Other2 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight161 (69.7%)
5.2%prior 153
Dark - lighted roadway44 (19.0%)
-13.7%prior 51
Dark - roadway not lighted13 (5.6%)
44.4%prior 9
Dusk9 (3.9%)
0.0%prior 9
Dawn3 (1.3%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.4%)
-80.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry185 (79.7%)
14.2%prior 162
Wet35 (15.1%)
-5.4%prior 37
Snow6 (2.6%)
-45.5%prior 11
Ice3 (1.3%)
-78.6%prior 14
Slush2 (0.9%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Analysis of involved vehicles and persons reveals shifts in both make and age demographics. Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make with its count increasing from 65 to 72, while Honda moved from the fourth to the second most-involved make with an increase from 36 to 53 vehicles. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes also changed, with the 16-20 age group seeing its share of involvement rise from 12.5% in 2022 to 16.0% in 2023.

Top Vehicle Makes (390 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA72 (18.5%)
10.8%prior 65
2
HONDA53 (13.6%)
47.2%prior 36
3
FORD48 (12.3%)
0.0%prior 48
4
NISSAN25 (6.4%)
31.6%prior 19
5
CHEVROLET22 (5.6%)
-45.0%prior 40
6
SUBARU21 (5.4%)
31.3%prior 16
7
JEEP19 (4.9%)
5.6%prior 18
8
HYUNDAI14 (3.6%)
27.3%prior 11
9
KIA12 (3.1%)
100.0%prior 6
10
BMW9 (2.3%)
12.5%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (469 persons with recorded sex)

Male267 (56.9%)
-4.0%prior 278
Female202 (43.1%)
9.8%prior 184

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across different speed zones shifted between the two years. While the 35 mph zone remained the location with the highest number of crashes in both periods, the count in this zone decreased from 90 to 78. In contrast, crashes in 25 mph zones increased from 52 to 63, and incidents in 40 mph zones rose from 26 to 31. Notably, the single fatal crash in 2023 occurred in a 40 mph zone.

Fatal crashes by zone: 40 mph: 1 of 31 (3.226%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: HOLLISTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 232
  • Total persons involved: 482
  • Total vehicles involved: 390

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). "HOLLISTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/holliston/2023-annual-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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Holliston, MA Crash Report — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com