Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

38 CRASHES IN
MELROSE, MA
DECEMBER 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2021

Total crashes in Melrose increased by 58.3% from December 2021 to December 2022, rising from 24 crashes to 38 crashes. A notable shift was the increase in serious injury crashes, which rose from 0 in December 2021 to 1 in December 2022.

38

58.3%was 24

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

6

20.0%was 5

Persons Injured

2

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in Melrose saw a significant increase year-over-year, rising by 58.3% from 24 crashes in December 2021 to 38 crashes in December 2022. Total injuries also increased by 20%, from 5 injuries to 6 injuries, while fatalities remained at 0 in both periods.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2022

0.0% vs prior (2)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained constant at 2 in both December 2021 and December 2022. However, the hit-and-run rate decreased from 8.3% of total crashes in December 2021 to 5.3% in December 2022.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 10.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

4

Motorists Injured

Prior: 40.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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 Friday with 5 crashes in December 2021 to Sunday with 10 crashes in December 2022. The peak hour also changed, moving from 6 p.m. with 3 crashes in December 2021 to 5 p.m. with 7 crashes in December 2022.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at 0 in both periods. However, serious injury crashes increased from 0 in December 2021 to 1 in December 2022. Minor injury crashes increased from 3 to 4, though their proportion of total crashes decreased from 12.5% to 10.5%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes2.6%
Minor Injury4minor injury crashes10.5%
33.3%prior 3
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes2.6%
0.0%prior 1
No Injury31no injury crashes81.6%
55.0%prior 20

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' increased from 14 crashes in December 2021 to 16 crashes in December 2022. 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' and 'Inattention' both increased from 1 crash to 2 crashes. Conversely, 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased from 2 crashes to 1 crash.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving16 (42.1%)14.3%prior 14
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (5.3%)
Followed too closely2 (5.3%)
Inattention2 (5.3%)
Distracted2 (5.3%)
Other improper action2 (5.3%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (2.6%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (2.6%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (2.6%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (2.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather increased from 14 to 20, while 'Rain' crashes decreased from 4 to 3. 'Snow' conditions, which accounted for 0 crashes in December 2021, were associated with 7 crashes in December 2022. Crashes during 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions increased from 9 to 17, and 'Dry' road surface crashes rose from 16 to 22.

Weather

Clear20 (52.6%)
42.9%prior 14
Snow7 (18.4%)
Rain3 (7.9%)
Cloudy/Rain3 (7.9%)
Clear/Other2 (5.3%)
Snow/Other1 (2.6%)
Clear/Unknown1 (2.6%)
Other1 (2.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Dark - lighted roadway17 (44.7%)
88.9%prior 9
Daylight16 (42.1%)
23.1%prior 13
Dusk3 (7.9%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (2.6%)
Dawn1 (2.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry22 (57.9%)
37.5%prior 16
Wet6 (15.8%)
-14.3%prior 7
Ice5 (13.2%)
Snow5 (13.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes increased from 58 to 94 year-over-year. All reported age groups saw an increase in the number of persons involved, with the 26-34 and 45-54 age groups both increasing from 6 to 13 persons. Honda and Toyota remained the top two vehicle makes involved, with Honda increasing from 9 to 11 and Toyota from 7 to 10.

Top Vehicle Makes (74 vehicles)

1
HONDA11 (14.9%)
22.2%prior 9
2
TOYOTA10 (13.5%)
42.9%prior 7
3
FORD9 (12.2%)
80.0%prior 5
4
NISSAN8 (10.8%)
5
JEEP6 (8.1%)
6
SUBARU3 (4.1%)
7
GMC3 (4.1%)
8
CHEVROLET2 (2.7%)
9
VOLVO2 (2.7%)
10
MERCEDES-BENZ2 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (82 persons with recorded sex)

Male46 (56.1%)
119.0%prior 21
Female36 (43.9%)
33.3%prior 27

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased from 19 in December 2021 to 28 in December 2022. Crashes in the 35 mph zone decreased from 3 to 1. New speed zones, 30 mph and 40 mph, appeared in December 2022 with 1 and 2 crashes respectively, and no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone in either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-12-01 through 2022-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-12-01 through 2022-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: MELROSE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 38
  • Total persons involved: 94
  • Total vehicles involved: 74

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: December 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/melrose/december-2022-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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Melrose, MA Crash Report — December 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com