Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

95 CRASHES IN
MALDEN, MA
JANUARY 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2022

In January 2023, Malden experienced 95 total crashes, an increase of 14.46% compared to 83 crashes in January 2022. The most significant year-over-year shift was a 116.67% increase in total injuries, rising from 12 in the prior period to 26 in the current period.

95

14.5%was 83

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

26

116.7%was 12

Persons Injured

34

17.2%was 29

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. 20 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 2023-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash activity in Malden shows an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing from 83 in January 2022 to 95 in January 2023. This represents a 14.46% increase in the number of reported crashes. Concurrently, total injuries saw a substantial rise, more than doubling from 12 to 26.

34

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2023

17.2% vs prior (29)

Hit-and-run crashes increased by 5, from 29 in January 2022 to 34 in January 2023, representing a 17.24% rise. The hit-and-run crash rate also slightly increased from 34.9% in the prior period to 35.8% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

24

Motorists Injured

Prior: 12100.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · 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 Thursday in January 2022 (16 crashes) to Monday in January 2023 (24 crashes). The peak hour remained 7 PM for both periods, with 8 crashes in the prior period and 11 crashes in the current period.

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

Total injuries significantly increased by 116.67%, from 12 in January 2022 to 26 in January 2023. While both periods reported no fatal crashes, the distribution of injury severities changed, with serious injuries (code 'A') present in 2 crashes in the prior period but not in the current period. Minor injuries (code 'B') increased from 4 crashes to 9 crashes, and possible injuries (code 'C') increased from 4 crashes to 7 crashes.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury9minor injury crashes9.5%
125.0%prior 4
Possible Injury7possible injury crashes7.4%
75.0%prior 4
No Injury59no injury crashes62.1%
20.4%prior 49

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Top Contributing Factors

The number of crashes attributed to "No improper driving" increased by 2, from 20 in the prior period to 22 in the current period. Factors such as "Distracted" and "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner" each appeared in 2 crashes in the current period, not being listed among the top factors in the prior period. Conversely, factors like "Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings" and "Operating defective equipment," each present in 1 crash in the prior period, were not among the listed top factors in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving22 (23.2%)10.0%prior 20
Distracted2 (2.1%)
Failed to yield right of way2 (2.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (2.1%)
Other improper action2 (2.1%)
Over-correcting/over-steering2 (2.1%)
Made an improper turn1 (1.1%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (1.1%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (1.1%)
Wrong side or wrong way1 (1.1%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions decreased from 45 in January 2022 to 25 in January 2023, while crashes in "Rain" increased from 4 to 10, and "Snow" conditions increased from 4 to 6. Regarding road surface conditions, crashes on "Dry" surfaces decreased from 45 to 36, whereas crashes on "Wet" surfaces more than doubled from 11 to 29.

Weather

Clear25 (27.8%)
-44.4%prior 45
Rain10 (11.1%)
Clear/Clear10 (11.1%)
66.7%prior 6
Cloudy8 (8.9%)
14.3%prior 7
Snow6 (6.7%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)5 (5.6%)
Unknown/Unknown4 (4.4%)
Snow/Snow4 (4.4%)
Rain/Cloudy3 (3.3%)
Rain/Rain2 (2.2%)

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

Lighting

Daylight40 (47.1%)
5.3%prior 38
Dark - lighted roadway37 (43.5%)
5.7%prior 35
Dusk4 (4.7%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (2.4%)
Dawn1 (1.2%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (1.2%)

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

Road Surface

Dry36 (43.4%)
-20.0%prior 45
Wet29 (34.9%)
163.6%prior 11
Snow18 (21.7%)
50.0%prior 12

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased by 11, from 151 in January 2022 to 162 in January 2023. The top vehicle make shifted, with HONDA becoming the most frequently involved make in the current period (34 vehicles) compared to TOYOTA in the prior period (35 vehicles). Significant shifts were observed in age distribution, with persons aged 21-25 involved in 28 crashes in the current period compared to 13 in the prior period, and persons aged 65+ involved in 19 crashes compared to 7.

Top Vehicle Makes (162 vehicles)

1
HONDA34 (21%)
30.8%prior 26
2
TOYOTA21 (13%)
-40.0%prior 35
3
NISSAN12 (7.4%)
9.1%prior 11
4
FORD11 (6.8%)
-15.4%prior 13
5
HYUNDAI9 (5.6%)
6
SUBARU9 (5.6%)
7
CHEVROLET6 (3.7%)
-14.3%prior 7
8
KIA5 (3.1%)
9
BMW4 (2.5%)
10
LEXUS4 (2.5%)
-20.0%prior 5

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

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

Sex Distribution (141 persons with recorded sex)

Male88 (62.4%)
14.3%prior 77
Female53 (37.6%)
-1.9%prior 54

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

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones increased from 64 in January 2022 to 76 in January 2023. Conversely, crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 10 to 7. No fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone during either period.

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: MALDEN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 95
  • Total persons involved: 216
  • Total vehicles involved: 162

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). "MALDEN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/malden/january-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

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Malden, MA Crash Report — January 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com