ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MEDFORD, MA · 2023
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/medford/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
1,454 CRASHES IN
MEDFORD, MA
2023
In Medford, total vehicle crashes increased by 24.2% from 1,171 in 2022 to 1,454 in 2023. While the number of crashes and injuries rose, the number of fatalities decreased from three to one year-over-year. The most notable shift was a 39.7% increase in crashes occurring in 25 mph speed zones, which rose from 683 incidents in 2022 to 954 in 2023.
1,454
▲ 24.2%was 1,171
Total Crash Events
1
▼ -66.7%was 3
Persons Killed
323
▲ 21.0%was 267
Persons Injured
261
▲ 26.1%was 207
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. 131 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 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Crash data indicates a rising trend in Medford from 2022 to 2023. Total crashes increased from 1,171 to 1,454, a 24.2% rise. Similarly, total injuries grew by 21.0%, from 267 to 323, while total fatalities declined from three to one.
261
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▲ 26.1% vs prior (207)
Hit-and-run incidents increased from 2022 to 2023. The total count of hit-and-run crashes rose by 26.1%, from 207 to 261. The hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of all crashes, also saw a slight uptick from 17.7% in 2022 to 18.0% in 2023, indicating this crash type grew at a slightly faster pace than total crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
27
Pedestrians Injured
21
Cyclists Injured
272
Motorists Injured
3
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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 2023, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 235 incidents, changing from Thursday (191 incidents) in the prior year. The peak time also shifted later into the afternoon, with 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. recording the highest frequency in 2023 (117 crashes each), compared to 2 p.m. in 2022 (89 crashes).
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While total crashes increased, the severity profile showed a decrease in fatal outcomes. The number of fatal crashes dropped from three in 2022 to one in 2023, and the fatal crash rate per 100 crashes fell from 0.26 to 0.07. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injuries saw a slight increase from 11.3% to 11.5%, while the share of serious injury crashes remained stable at 1.0% for both years.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors remained the same in both years: 'No improper driving', 'Followed too closely', and 'Failed to yield right of way'. The count of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' increased by 62.5% from 253 to 411. Crashes involving 'Followed too closely' increased in count by 10.6% from 142 to 157, while those from 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a slight decrease in count from 139 to 137.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
In both years, the majority of crashes occurred during daylight on dry roads. However, the proportion of crashes on wet roads increased from 13.7% of all incidents in 2022 to 18.1% in 2023. Similarly, crashes during rainy weather accounted for a larger share in 2023 (12.9%) compared to 2022 (9.1%), while the share of crashes in clear weather conditions remained dominant but decreased.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes were consistent across both years, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford ranking first, second, and third, respectively. The 26-34 age group represented the largest number of persons involved in crashes in both 2023 (556 persons) and 2022 (492 persons). The counts of individuals involved in collisions increased across all reported age groups year-over-year.
Top Vehicle Makes (2,795 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
561 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (2,718 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes became more concentrated in lower speed zones in 2023 compared to the prior year. The number of crashes in 25 mph zones increased by 39.7%, from 683 to 954, while incidents in 55 mph zones decreased from 136 to 107. The single fatal crash in 2023 occurred in a 25 mph zone, whereas the three fatal crashes in 2022 were distributed across 25, 35, and 55 mph zones.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 954 (0.105%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: MEDFORD, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 1,454
- Total persons involved: 3,252
- Total vehicles involved: 2,795
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). "MEDFORD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/medford/2023-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-01-01 – 2023-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved