Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

135 CRASHES IN
MEDFORD, MA
DECEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2022

In December 2023, Medford experienced 135 crashes, a slight increase from the 134 crashes reported in December 2022, representing a 0.75% rise. A notable shift was observed in pedestrian crashes, which increased by 500% from 1 in the prior year to 6 in the current period. Total injuries also rose significantly, from 19 in December 2022 to 35 in December 2023.

135

0.7%was 134

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

35

84.2%was 19

Persons Injured

23

9.5%was 21

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. 10 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, the total number of crashes in Medford remained relatively stable year-over-year, with a marginal increase of 0.75% from 134 crashes in December 2022 to 135 crashes in December 2023. This indicates a consistent level of crash incidents in the city for the observed period.

23

Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2023

9.5% vs prior (21)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 21 in December 2022 to 23 in December 2023, representing a 9.5% rise. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also saw an increase, moving from 15.7% of all crashes in the prior year to 17% in the current period, indicating an upward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

4

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1300.0%

3

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 250.0%

27

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1668.8%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 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 showed some shifts year-over-year. The peak day for crashes changed from Friday in December 2022 (30 crashes) to Monday in December 2023 (30 crashes). The peak crash hour also shifted from 4 PM (17 crashes) in the prior year to 3 PM (12 crashes) in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

No fatal crashes or fatalities were reported in either December 2023 or December 2022. However, the number of injuries significantly increased, with total injuries rising by 84.2% from 19 in December 2022 to 35 in December 2023. Serious injuries (Severity A) doubled from 1 to 2, while minor injuries (Severity B) more than doubled, increasing from 7 to 15.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes1.5%
100.0%prior 1
Minor Injury15minor injury crashes11.1%
114.3%prior 7
Possible Injury9possible injury crashes6.7%
12.5%prior 8
No Injury99no injury crashes73.3%
-9.2%prior 109

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, 'No improper driving' remained the most frequent, increasing slightly from 38 crashes in December 2022 to 39 crashes in December 2023. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes saw a notable increase of 3, rising from 13 to 16, a 23.1% change. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' decreased by 5, from 16 to 11, representing a 31.3% reduction year-over-year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving39 (28.9%)2.6%prior 38
Failed to yield right of way16 (11.9%)23.1%prior 13
Inattention11 (8.1%)10.0%prior 10
Followed too closely11 (8.1%)-31.3%prior 16
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner6 (4.4%)20.0%prior 5
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings5 (3.7%)
Driving too fast for conditions4 (3%)-33.3%prior 6
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road3 (2.2%)-50.0%prior 6
Made an improper turn3 (2.2%)
Illness2 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes under 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 85 in December 2022 to 69 in December 2023, while 'Cloudy' weather crashes increased significantly from 3 to 18. There was a notable increase in crashes on 'Wet' road surfaces, rising by 53.8% from 26 in the prior year to 40 in the current period. Conversely, crashes on 'Ice' or 'Snow' surfaces decreased from a combined 8 in December 2022 to just 1 in December 2023.

Weather

Clear69 (51.9%)
-18.8%prior 85
Rain19 (14.3%)
18.8%prior 16
Cloudy18 (13.5%)
Clear/Clear5 (3.8%)
-28.6%prior 7
Unknown/Unknown4 (3.0%)
Clear/Unknown4 (3.0%)
Cloudy/Rain3 (2.3%)
Rain/Cloudy3 (2.3%)
Cloudy/Other2 (1.5%)
Clear/Other1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight62 (46.6%)
6.9%prior 58
Dark - lighted roadway61 (45.9%)
-3.2%prior 63
Dusk7 (5.3%)
40.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (1.5%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry87 (66.9%)
-8.4%prior 95
Wet40 (30.8%)
53.8%prior 26
Water (standing, moving)2 (1.5%)
Ice1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased slightly from 268 in December 2022 to 256 in December 2023, a 4.5% reduction. Honda remained the most frequently involved vehicle make with 49 vehicles in both periods, while Toyota involvement decreased from 48 to 39. Regarding person demographics, there was a notable increase in persons aged 0-15 (from 4 to 10, a 150% rise) and 65+ (from 15 to 32, a 113.3% rise) involved in crashes.

Top Vehicle Makes (256 vehicles)

1
HONDA49 (19.1%)
0.0%prior 49
2
TOYOTA39 (15.2%)
-18.8%prior 48
3
FORD31 (12.1%)
-6.1%prior 33
4
NISSAN15 (5.9%)
-6.3%prior 16
5
CHEVROLET13 (5.1%)
44.4%prior 9
6
JEEP12 (4.7%)
50.0%prior 8
7
VOLKSWAGEN8 (3.1%)
14.3%prior 7
8
KIA8 (3.1%)
0.0%prior 8
9
HYUNDAI7 (2.7%)
-22.2%prior 9
10
MAZDA7 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (271 persons with recorded sex)

Male150 (55.4%)
1.4%prior 148
Female121 (44.6%)
10.0%prior 110

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The 25 mph speed limit zone continued to account for the majority of crashes in both periods, increasing by 6 crashes from 81 in December 2022 to 87 in December 2023. Crashes in the 55 mph zone decreased by 15.4% from 13 to 11. No fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone during either December 2022 or December 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-12-01 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: 2023-12-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-12-01 through 2023-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: MEDFORD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 135
  • Total persons involved: 317
  • Total vehicles involved: 256

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: December 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/medford/december-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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Medford, MA Crash Report — December 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com