Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

508 CRASHES IN
LUDLOW, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In 2025, Ludlow recorded 508 total traffic crashes, a 3.1% decrease from the 524 crashes reported in 2024. The most significant year-over-year change was the complete elimination of traffic fatalities, which dropped from 3 in the prior year to 0 in the current year. Total injuries also saw a substantial decline of 26.3%, falling from 156 to 115.

508

-3.1%was 524

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 3

Persons Killed

115

-26.3%was 156

Persons Injured

32

-25.6%was 43

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend in traffic collisions in Ludlow shows a modest year-over-year improvement. Total crashes decreased by 3.1%, from 524 in 2024 to 508 in 2025. This downward trend was more pronounced in crash severity, with total injuries declining by 26.3% and fatalities falling from 3 to 0.

32

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

-25.6% vs prior (43)

Hit-and-run incidents decreased in both count and as a proportion of total crashes. The number of hit-and-run crashes fell from 43 in 2024 to 32 in 2025, a 25.6% reduction. The hit-and-run rate also trended downward, declining from 8.2% of all crashes in the prior year to 6.3% in the current year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3-100.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 4-25.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

108

Motorists Injured

Prior: 151-28.5%

2

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2025, the peak day for crashes was Monday with 86 incidents, a change from the prior year's peak on Thursday (97 incidents). The busiest hour also moved from 2 p.m. in 2024 (43 crashes) to the 5 p.m. evening commute hour in 2025 (56 crashes), indicating a shift in collision timing towards the end of the workday.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity significantly decreased year-over-year, as fatal crashes were eliminated, dropping from 3 incidents in 2024 to 0 in 2025. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injuries fell from 13.2% to 10.0% of all incidents. Concurrently, crashes with no injuries increased their share of the total from 73.7% to 77.2%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury7serious injury crashes1.4%
-22.2%prior 9
Minor Injury51minor injury crashes10%
-26.1%prior 69
Possible Injury33possible injury crashes6.5%
13.8%prior 29
No Injury392no injury crashes77.2%
1.6%prior 386

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors remained consistent, with 'Inattention' being the most cited cause in both periods. The count of crashes attributed to inattention increased by 12.0%, from 142 in 2024 to 159 in 2025. Crashes involving 'Failed to yield right of way' also grew in count by 18.9% (from 37 to 44). Conversely, incidents attributed to 'Followed too closely' saw a significant 46.4% reduction in count, dropping from 28 to 15.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention159 (31.3%)12.0%prior 142
No improper driving100 (19.7%)-5.7%prior 106
Failed to yield right of way44 (8.7%)18.9%prior 37
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road21 (4.1%)-4.5%prior 22
Distracted19 (3.7%)90.0%prior 10
Followed too closely15 (3%)-46.4%prior 28
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner14 (2.8%)0.0%prior 14
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings12 (2.4%)9.1%prior 11
Other improper action11 (2.2%)-45.0%prior 20
Fatigued/asleep9 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in 2025 were more likely to occur in daylight compared to the prior year, with daylight crashes accounting for 73.2% of the total, up from 67.4% in 2024. Correspondingly, crashes on dark but lighted roadways decreased their share from 22.1% to 17.3% of all incidents. The proportion of crashes on dry roads remained stable at approximately 80% for both years, while incidents during rainy weather decreased from 25 in 2024 to 13 in 2025.

Weather

Clear291 (57.9%)
-7.0%prior 313
Cloudy49 (9.7%)
11.4%prior 44
Clear/Clear39 (7.8%)
77.3%prior 22
Clear/Cloudy29 (5.8%)
93.3%prior 15
Clear/Other24 (4.8%)
4.3%prior 23
Cloudy/Rain19 (3.8%)
-29.6%prior 27
Rain13 (2.6%)
-48.0%prior 25
Cloudy/Snow5 (1.0%)
-37.5%prior 8
Cloudy/Other4 (0.8%)
-55.6%prior 9
Rain/Cloudy3 (0.6%)
-40.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight372 (74.1%)
5.4%prior 353
Dark - lighted roadway88 (17.5%)
-24.1%prior 116
Dark - roadway not lighted18 (3.6%)
0.0%prior 18
Dusk13 (2.6%)
-45.8%prior 24
Dawn11 (2.2%)
37.5%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry414 (82.5%)
-0.2%prior 415
Wet64 (12.7%)
-14.7%prior 75
Snow15 (3.0%)
-16.7%prior 18
Ice5 (1.0%)
-16.7%prior 6
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel2 (0.4%)
Other1 (0.2%)
Slush1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes saw a shift in rankings. Honda became the most frequently involved make in 2025 with 112 vehicles, up from 89 in the prior year, overtaking Toyota (110 in 2025 vs. 131 in 2024). Regarding persons involved, the 65+ age group saw an increase in representation from 157 to 164 individuals, becoming the largest age cohort in 2025. Conversely, involvement for the 35-44 age group decreased from 178 to 163 individuals.

Top Vehicle Makes (909 vehicles)

1
HONDA112 (12.3%)
25.8%prior 89
2
TOYOTA110 (12.1%)
-16.0%prior 131
3
FORD79 (8.7%)
-24.8%prior 105
4
NISSAN77 (8.5%)
11.6%prior 69
5
CHEVROLET67 (7.4%)
-10.7%prior 75
6
HYUNDAI61 (6.7%)
-18.7%prior 75
7
JEEP51 (5.6%)
18.6%prior 43
8
SUBARU35 (3.9%)
-2.8%prior 36
9
VOLKSWAGEN31 (3.4%)
29.2%prior 24
10
DODGE25 (2.8%)
4.2%prior 24

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (990 persons with recorded sex)

Male567 (57.3%)
-5.7%prior 601
Female423 (42.7%)
-8.0%prior 460

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

There was a noticeable shift in crashes away from high-speed zones. Incidents in 65 mph zones decreased from 78 in 2024 to 56 in 2025. Conversely, crashes in 35 mph zones increased from 132 to 140, and those in 25 mph zones rose from 93 to 109. Notably, the 3 fatal crashes in 2024 all occurred in zones with speed limits of 40 mph or higher, while 2025 saw no fatal crashes in any speed zone.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: LUDLOW, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 508
  • Total persons involved: 1,112
  • Total vehicles involved: 909

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). "LUDLOW, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/ludlow/2025-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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Ludlow, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com