ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MALDEN, MA · JANUARY 2026
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/malden/january-2026-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
82 CRASHES IN
MALDEN, MA
JANUARY 2026
In January 2026, Malden experienced 82 total crashes, a decrease of 7 crashes or 7.9% compared to the 89 crashes reported in January 2025. A notable shift is the absence of fatalities in the current period, down from one fatality in the prior year. Total injuries also saw a significant reduction, decreasing from 41 to 26 year-over-year.
82
▼ -7.9%was 89
Total Crash Events
0
▼ -100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
26
▼ -36.6%was 41
Persons Injured
31
▲ 3.3%was 30
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 · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash data for Malden in January 2026 indicates a downward trend in traffic incidents compared to the prior year. Total crashes decreased by 7.9% from 89 to 82, accompanied by a 36.6% reduction in total injuries, from 41 to 26. Furthermore, there were no fatalities reported in January 2026, compared to one in January 2025.
31
Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2026
▲ 3.3% vs prior (30)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased slightly from 30 in January 2025 to 31 in January 2026. Concurrently, the hit-and-run rate rose from 33.7% of all crashes in the prior period to 37.8% in the current period. This indicates an upward trend in the proportion of crashes involving a hit-and-run incident.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
4
Pedestrians Injured
22
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year, with Monday becoming the peak day in January 2026 with 16 crashes, compared to Wednesday's peak of 19 crashes in January 2025. The busiest hour for crashes also changed from 8 AM (9 crashes) in January 2025 to 7 PM (11 crashes) in January 2026. This indicates a shift in peak crash times from morning to evening.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Malden reported no fatal crashes in January 2026, a decrease from one fatal crash in January 2025. The total number of injured persons decreased from 41 to 26, representing a 36.6% reduction. Serious injuries (Severity A) decreased from 3 crashes (3.4% of total) in January 2025 to 2 crashes (2.4% of total) in January 2026.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The most frequently cited contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' remained consistent with 22 crashes in both January 2025 and January 2026. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased by 2, from 4 in the prior period to 6 in the current period. 'Driving too fast for conditions' also saw an increase from 0 crashes in January 2025 to 2 crashes in January 2026.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 50 in January 2025 to 28 in January 2026, while crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 28 to 40. Regarding road surface, crashes on 'Dry' surfaces decreased from 46 to 36, but crashes on 'Snow' surfaces increased from 11 to 14. Crashes during 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 51 to 37 year-over-year.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Toyota remained the most common vehicle make involved in crashes, though its count decreased from 39 in January 2025 to 29 in January 2026. Honda maintained its involvement at 24 vehicles in both periods, while Ford vehicles involved increased from 10 to 16. The 0-15 age group saw a significant decrease in persons involved in crashes, from 14 in January 2025 to 1 in January 2026.
Top Vehicle Makes (146 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Vehicle unit records
53 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (115 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The 25 mph speed zone continued to account for the highest number of crashes, decreasing from 76 in January 2025 to 64 in January 2026. Notably, there were no fatalities recorded in any speed zone in January 2026, compared to one fatal crash in the 25 mph zone in January 2025. Crashes in the 20 mph zone decreased from 8 to 6, while the 35 mph zone experienced an increase from 1 to 3 crashes.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · 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: 2026-01-01 through 2026-01-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2026-01-01 through 2026-01-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: MALDEN, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 82
- Total persons involved: 165
- Total vehicles involved: 146
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 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/malden/january-2026-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: 2026-01-01 – 2026-01-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved