ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MELROSE, MA · 2024
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/melrose/2024-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
326 CRASHES IN
MELROSE, MA
2024
In 2024, Melrose recorded 326 total crashes, a 26.4% increase from the 258 crashes reported in 2023. While the number of total injuries decreased from 71 to 64, the most notable year-over-year change was a sharp rise in hit-and-run incidents, which increased by 156% from 16 to 41 cases.
326
▲ 26.4%was 258
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
64
▼ -9.9%was 71
Persons Injured
41
▲ 156.3%was 16
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. 7 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crashes in Melrose increased by 26.4% year-over-year, rising from 258 in 2023 to 326 in 2024. Despite this rise in total incidents, the number of reported injuries decreased by 9.9% from 71 to 64. There were no fatal crashes recorded in either period.
41
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024
▲ 156.3% vs prior (16)
Hit-and-run crashes increased significantly in both absolute numbers and as a proportion of total incidents. The number of hit-and-run crashes rose from 16 in 2023 to 41 in 2024, a 156% increase. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate more than doubled, climbing from 6.2% of all crashes in the prior year to 12.6% in the current year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
5
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
56
Motorists Injured
2
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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 between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday (50 crashes) in 2023 to Wednesday (57 crashes) in 2024. Similarly, the peak hour for incidents shifted earlier in the day, from the 4 p.m. hour in 2023 (28 crashes) to the 2 p.m. hour in 2024 (32 crashes).
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
No fatal crashes were recorded in either 2023 or 2024. The overall severity of crashes shifted toward less severe outcomes, with the proportion of no-injury incidents rising from 76.7% of all crashes in 2023 to 80.7% in 2024. While the count of minor injury crashes increased from 30 to 40, serious injury crashes fell from 6 to 5, and possible injury crashes dropped from 16 to 11.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors remained consistent, with "No improper driving" being the most cited factor in both periods, increasing in count from 91 to 136. "Failed to yield right of way" rose from the third to the second most common factor, with its count increasing by 45.5% from 22 to 32 incidents. Conversely, crashes attributed to "Inattention" decreased from 27 to 24. A notable change was the 220% increase in crashes involving "Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road," which grew from 5 to 16 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The environmental conditions under which crashes occurred remained largely consistent between 2023 and 2024. In both periods, the vast majority of incidents happened in daylight (71.7% in 2023, 72.7% in 2024) and on dry road surfaces (79.8% in 2023, 81.3% in 2024). There were no significant shifts in the proportion of crashes occurring during adverse weather or poor lighting conditions.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Honda, and Ford—remained unchanged from 2023 to 2024, with each seeing an increase in total involvements. Toyota vehicles increased from 70 to 104, Honda from 69 to 91, and Ford from 53 to 56. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes also remained stable, with the 35-54 and 65+ age groups representing the largest cohorts in both years.
Top Vehicle Makes (620 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
80 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (646 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes remained heavily concentrated in 25 mph speed zones, which accounted for 205 incidents in 2023 and 281 in 2024, representing over 86% of crashes with a recorded speed limit in both periods. While the number of crashes in this dominant zone increased, incidents in higher speed zones (30 mph and 35 mph) saw a slight decrease in count. There were no fatal crashes recorded in any speed zone during either year.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
- Geographic scope: MELROSE, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 326
- Total persons involved: 727
- Total vehicles involved: 620
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). "MELROSE, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/melrose/2024-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: 2024-01-01 – 2024-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved