Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

73 CRASHES IN
MALDEN, MA
OCTOBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2022

In October 2023, Malden experienced 73 crashes, a 5.2% decrease compared to 77 crashes in October 2022. A significant change was observed in fatalities, which increased from 0 in October 2022 to 1 in October 2023. Additionally, total injuries rose by 82.4%, from 17 to 31.

73

-5.2%was 77

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

31

82.4%was 17

Persons Injured

20

-28.6%was 28

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) 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. 10 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, total crashes in Malden saw a slight decrease of 5.2% year-over-year, from 77 in October 2022 to 73 in October 2023. Despite this reduction in total incidents, the number of fatalities increased from 0 to 1, and injuries rose substantially by 82.4%.

20

Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2023

-28.6% vs prior (28)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased year-over-year, falling from 28 in October 2022 to 20 in October 2023. This represents a reduction of 8 incidents. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also decreased from 36.4% of all crashes in October 2022 to 27.4% in October 2023.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

27

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1580.0%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes showed shifts year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday in October 2022 (15 crashes) to Monday in October 2023 (15 crashes). The peak hour also shifted, from 6 PM (8 crashes) in October 2022 to 7 PM (7 crashes) in October 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity saw a notable increase in October 2023 compared to the prior year. Fatal crashes rose from 0 to 1, increasing the fatal crash rate from 0% to 1.4% of all crashes. Total injuries also significantly increased by 82.4%, from 17 to 31. Crashes resulting in any injury (A, B, or C) increased from 13 (16.9%) in October 2022 to 22 (30.1%) in October 2023.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes1.4%
Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.4%
Minor Injury5minor injury crashes6.8%
25.0%prior 4
Possible Injury16possible injury crashes21.9%
77.8%prior 9
No Injury40no injury crashes54.8%
-7.0%prior 43

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The most frequent contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' increased by 6 crashes, from 22 (28.6% share) in October 2022 to 28 (38.4% share) in October 2023. 'Inattention' remained consistent with 5 crashes in both periods. 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a slight increase of 1 crash, from 3 to 4. Factors like 'Glare' and 'Made an improper turn' emerged in October 2023 with 2 crashes each, while 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' decreased from 2 crashes to 1.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving28 (38.4%)27.3%prior 22
Inattention5 (6.8%)0.0%prior 5
Failed to yield right of way4 (5.5%)
Glare2 (2.7%)
Made an improper turn2 (2.7%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (1.4%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (1.4%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (1.4%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (1.4%)
Other improper action1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes under 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 48 in October 2022 to 40 in October 2023. Conversely, crashes in 'Rain' conditions increased from 5 to 8, and 'Cloudy' conditions rose from 2 to 6. Regarding road surface, 'Dry' condition crashes decreased from 59 to 54, while 'Wet' condition crashes doubled from 8 to 16. Crashes occurring during 'Daylight' and 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions both saw slight increases.

Weather

Clear40 (58.0%)
-16.7%prior 48
Clear/Clear9 (13.0%)
-10.0%prior 10
Rain8 (11.6%)
60.0%prior 5
Cloudy6 (8.7%)
Cloudy/Rain3 (4.3%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (1.4%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (1.4%)
Cloudy/Clear1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight40 (57.1%)
2.6%prior 39
Dark - lighted roadway26 (37.1%)
8.3%prior 24
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (2.9%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (1.4%)
Dawn1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry54 (77.1%)
-8.5%prior 59
Wet16 (22.9%)
100.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 132 in October 2022 to 139 in October 2023. Toyota remained the most common make, increasing from 26 to 34 vehicles, while Honda also rose from 20 to 26, and Nissan decreased from 10 to 4. Concurrently, the total number of persons involved increased from 157 to 201, with a notable rise in the 65+ age group from 4 to 15 individuals, and the 35-44 age group increasing from 19 to 32.

Top Vehicle Makes (139 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA34 (24.5%)
30.8%prior 26
2
HONDA26 (18.7%)
30.0%prior 20
3
FORD10 (7.2%)
0.0%prior 10
4
CHEVROLET10 (7.2%)
100.0%prior 5
5
SUBARU9 (6.5%)
50.0%prior 6
6
MAZDA4 (2.9%)
7
BMW4 (2.9%)
8
KIA4 (2.9%)
9
VOLKSWAGEN4 (2.9%)
10
JEEP4 (2.9%)
-50.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (142 persons with recorded sex)

Male83 (58.5%)
31.7%prior 63
Female59 (41.5%)
25.5%prior 47

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones increased from 49 in October 2022 to 58 in October 2023, and this zone recorded the only fatal crash in the current period. Conversely, crashes in 30 mph zones saw a significant decrease, falling from 14 to 5. There was also a reduction in crashes in 5 mph zones, from 6 to 1, while 20 mph zones experienced an increase from 1 to 4 crashes.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 58 (1.724%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · 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: 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: MALDEN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 73
  • Total persons involved: 201
  • Total vehicles involved: 139

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: October 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/malden/october-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

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