ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · LOWELL, MA · AUGUST 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/lowell/august-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
12 CRASHES IN
LOWELL, MA
AUGUST 2023
In August 2023, Lowell experienced 12 crashes, a substantial decrease of 93.5% compared to the 185 crashes recorded in August 2022. The most notable shift is the absence of fatalities in the current period, down from 2 fatalities in the prior year.
12
▼ -93.5%was 185
Total Crash Events
0
▼ -100.0%was 2
Persons Killed
2
▼ -95.6%was 45
Persons Injured
1
▼ -97.8%was 45
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.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash trends for August in Lowell show a significant decline year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 93.5%, from 185 in August 2022 to 12 in August 2023. This period also saw a reduction in total fatalities from 2 to 0, and total injuries from 45 to 2, representing a 95.6% decrease.
1
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2023
▼ -97.8% vs prior (45)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased significantly from 45 incidents in August 2022 to 1 incident in August 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also saw a substantial reduction, falling from 24.3% of all crashes in the prior year to 8.3% in the current year, indicating a positive trend in this category.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Motorists Killed
2
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal distribution of crashes shows a shift in peak activity and a general reduction across all time periods. In August 2023, the peak day for crashes was Saturday with 3 incidents, while in August 2022, Friday had the highest count at 32 crashes. The peak hour for crashes also shifted from 3 PM with 23 crashes in the prior year to 5 PM with 3 crashes in the current year, indicating a broad reduction in crash frequency throughout the week.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity saw a significant improvement year-over-year, with zero fatalities recorded in August 2023, down from 2 fatalities in August 2022. The total number of injuries also decreased sharply from 45 to 2. While minor injuries accounted for 8.3% of crashes in August 2023, the prior year's data included fatal crashes (1.1%), serious injury crashes (1.6%), and possible injury crashes (4.3%), none of which were present in the current period.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Comparing contributing factors, 'No improper driving' decreased significantly from 79 crashes in August 2022 to 3 crashes in August 2023. Crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' also saw a reduction, from 13 incidents in the prior year to 5 in the current year. While 'Driving too fast for conditions' increased from 1 to 2 crashes, factors like 'Failed to yield right of way' and 'Inattention' which accounted for 13 crashes each in the prior year, were nearly absent or significantly reduced in the current period.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Weather conditions showed a higher proportion of rain-related crashes in August 2023, accounting for 25% of incidents compared to 2.7% in August 2022. Conversely, clear weather conditions were associated with 58.3% of crashes in the current period, similar to the 59.5% in the prior year. Regarding road surface, wet or standing water conditions were a factor in 33.3% of crashes in August 2023, a notable increase from 7.6% in August 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Top Vehicle Makes (29 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
3 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (33 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
In August 2023, all 11 crashes with recorded speed limits occurred in higher speed zones, specifically 1 crash at 55 mph and 10 crashes at 65 mph, with no fatalities in either zone. In contrast, August 2022 had 59 crashes with recorded speed limits, with 45 occurring in zones between 15-50 mph, 3 at 55 mph (including 1 fatal crash), and 11 at 65 mph. This indicates a shift in the distribution of crashes towards higher speed limit areas in the current period, with no fatalities reported in these zones.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: LOWELL, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 12
- Total persons involved: 35
- Total vehicles involved: 29
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). "LOWELL, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/lowell/august-2023-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-08-01 – 2023-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved