Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

83 CRASHES IN
MARLBOROUGH, MA
APRIL 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstApril 2025

In April 2026, Marlborough experienced 83 crashes, a slight increase from the 81 crashes reported in April 2025, representing a 2.47% rise. Total fatalities remained stable at 1, and total injuries also held steady at 28. A notable shift was the complete elimination of DUI-related crashes, dropping from 2 in the prior period to 0 in the current period.

83

2.5%was 81

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

28

Persons Injured

6

-25.0%was 8

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash incidents in Marlborough saw a slight increase, rising from 81 crashes in April 2025 to 83 crashes in April 2026, a 2.47% year-over-year change. Despite this minor rise in total crashes, the number of fatalities remained constant at 1, and the total number of injuries also stayed the same at 28 for both periods.

6

Hit-and-Run Crashes — April 2026

-25.0% vs prior (8)

Hit-and-run crashes decreased from 8 in April 2025 to 6 in April 2026, representing a 25% reduction in count. The hit-and-run rate also declined from 9.9% of all crashes in the prior period to 7.2% in the current period, indicating a downward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 10.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

26

Motorists Injured

Prior: 260.0%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · 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 Monday in April 2025, with 17 incidents, to Thursday in April 2026, which recorded 19 crashes. Similarly, the peak crash hour moved from 5 PM with 8 incidents in the prior period to 8 AM with 13 incidents in the current period. This indicates a shift in the most crash-prone times of the week and day.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The number of fatal crashes remained unchanged at 1 in both periods. However, there was a significant shift in injury severity, with serious injury crashes decreasing from 2 to 1 (a 50% reduction) and possible injury crashes dropping from 12 to 2 (an 83.3% decrease). Conversely, minor injury crashes saw a substantial increase from 5 to 19, a 280% rise year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes1.2%
0.0%prior 1
Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.2%
-50.0%prior 2
Minor Injury19minor injury crashes22.9%
280.0%prior 5
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes2.4%
-83.3%prior 12
No Injury59no injury crashes71.1%
1.7%prior 58

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Contributing factors saw 'Inattention' become the leading factor, increasing from 14 crashes to 19 crashes (a 35.7% increase), while 'No improper driving' decreased by 4 crashes, from 20 to 16. 'Followed too closely' remained the third most common factor, increasing from 11 to 12 crashes (a 9.1% increase). Additionally, crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions' doubled from 2 to 4 incidents, a 100% increase.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention19 (22.9%)35.7%prior 14
No improper driving16 (19.3%)-20.0%prior 20
Followed too closely12 (14.5%)9.1%prior 11
Failed to yield right of way7 (8.4%)-12.5%prior 8
Driving too fast for conditions4 (4.8%)
Other improper action4 (4.8%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway3 (3.6%)
Fatigued/asleep3 (3.6%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (2.4%)
Visibility obstructed2 (2.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions increased from 55 to 61, while those in 'Cloudy' conditions rose from 8 to 13. Crashes on 'Dry' road surfaces increased by 11, from 58 to 69, whereas crashes on 'Snow' surfaces decreased from 5 to 0. The number of crashes during 'Daylight' hours increased from 60 to 69, while incidents during 'Dawn' and 'Dusk' both decreased from 4 to 1.

Weather

Clear48 (57.8%)
-9.4%prior 53
Clear/Clear13 (15.7%)
Cloudy10 (12.0%)
25.0%prior 8
Rain5 (6.0%)
0.0%prior 5
Clear/Cloudy3 (3.6%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (2.4%)
Clear/Rain1 (1.2%)
Snow1 (1.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight69 (83.1%)
15.0%prior 60
Dark - lighted roadway10 (12.0%)
-9.1%prior 11
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (2.4%)
Dawn1 (1.2%)
Dusk1 (1.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry69 (83.1%)
19.0%prior 58
Wet14 (16.9%)
-6.7%prior 15

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved remained constant at 152 in both periods. Toyota, Honda, and Ford consistently ranked among the top vehicle makes involved, with Toyota increasing from 31 to 34, Honda from 17 to 22, and Ford from 12 to 17. The age distribution of persons involved showed an increase in the 16-20, 21-25, 26-34, 35-44, and 45-54 age groups, while the 55-64 and 65+ age groups saw decreases.

Top Vehicle Makes (152 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA34 (22.4%)
9.7%prior 31
2
HONDA22 (14.5%)
29.4%prior 17
3
FORD17 (11.2%)
41.7%prior 12
4
CHEVROLET12 (7.9%)
50.0%prior 8
5
NISSAN10 (6.6%)
-16.7%prior 12
6
JEEP8 (5.3%)
-27.3%prior 11
7
SUBARU5 (3.3%)
8
HYUNDAI4 (2.6%)
-20.0%prior 5
9
BMW4 (2.6%)
-20.0%prior 5
10
KIA4 (2.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (177 persons with recorded sex)

Male108 (61.0%)
40.3%prior 77
Female69 (39.0%)
-10.4%prior 77

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 65 mph speed zone increased from 7 to 13, and this zone recorded 1 fatal crash in the current period, up from 0 in the prior period. Crashes in the 5 mph zone decreased from 8 to 3, and the 25 mph zone saw a decrease from 16 to 13 incidents. Conversely, the 30 mph and 35 mph zones experienced increases in crash counts, rising from 14 to 17 and 15 to 22, respectively.

Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 1 of 13 (7.692%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · 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: 2026-04-01 through 2026-04-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-04-01 through 2026-04-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: MARLBOROUGH, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 83
  • Total persons involved: 191
  • Total vehicles involved: 152

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). "MARLBOROUGH, MA Crash Intelligence Report: April 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/marlborough/april-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

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Marlborough, MA Crash Report — April 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com