ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MERRIMAC, MA · 2022
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/merrimac/2022-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
74 CRASHES IN
MERRIMAC, MA
2022
In 2022, Merrimac recorded 74 total vehicle crashes, a 4.2% increase from the 71 crashes reported in 2021. While overall crash volume saw a slight rise, the most significant change was the occurrence of one fatal crash in 2022, whereas none were recorded in the prior year. Total injuries also increased substantially, rising from 16 in 2021 to 31 in 2022.
74
▲ 4.2%was 71
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
31
▲ 93.8%was 16
Persons Injured
2
▼ -50.0%was 4
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 · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Crash trends in Merrimac show a slight increase year-over-year, with total collisions rising from 71 in 2021 to 74 in 2022, a 4.2% increase. The number of people injured nearly doubled from 16 to 31. The city also recorded one fatality in 2022 after having none in the previous year.
2
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022
▼ -50.0% vs prior (4)
The number of hit-and-run incidents decreased from 4 in 2021 to 2 in 2022, representing a 50% reduction in the count of such crashes. The hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of total crashes, also trended downward, falling from 5.6% in the prior year to 2.7% in the current year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Motorists Killed
31
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between 2021 and 2022. The most frequent day for crashes moved from Tuesday, with 13 incidents in 2021, to Friday, with 18 incidents in 2022. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions changed from the morning commute at 6 a.m. (9 crashes) in 2021 to the afternoon commute at 4 p.m. (10 crashes) in 2022.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity increased in 2022 compared to 2021. The city recorded one fatal crash (1.4% of total) and four serious injury crashes (5.4% of total) in 2022, categories that had zero incidents in the prior year. Consequently, the proportion of crashes resulting in no injuries decreased from 77.5% in 2021 to 68.9% in 2022, while the share of minor injury crashes remained relatively stable.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
In both 2021 and 2022, 'No improper driving' was the most cited factor, accounting for 27 and 29 crashes, respectively. The count of crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased slightly from 8 to 9. A notable change was the emergence of 'Fatigued/asleep' as a factor in 2022 with 6 crashes, a category not present in the 2021 data. The count for 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' also increased from 5 to 7 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes in both periods predominantly occurred in clear weather and on dry roads, with these conditions accounting for a similar proportion of incidents year-over-year. However, there was a notable shift in lighting conditions, as the share of crashes happening in daylight decreased from 74.6% of all incidents in 2021 to 56.8% in 2022. Correspondingly, crashes in dark conditions (both lighted and unlighted roadways) increased from 14 incidents in 2021 to 21 incidents in 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained broadly consistent, with Toyota being the most frequent in both 2021 (17 vehicles) and 2022 (15 vehicles). There were shifts in the age demographics of persons involved in crashes, as the number of individuals in the 55-64 age group increased from 21 to 26. Conversely, involvement of the 16-20 age group decreased from 21 individuals in 2021 to 17 in 2022.
Top Vehicle Makes (101 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
5 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (115 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
There was a noticeable shift in crashes toward higher speed zones in 2022. Collisions in the 65 mph zone increased from 32 incidents in 2021 to 46 in 2022, and this zone accounted for the year's only fatal crash. Crashes in the 35 mph zone also more than doubled from 7 to 16, while incidents in the 25 mph zone decreased from 11 in 2021 to 6 in 2022.
Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 1 of 46 (2.174%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: MERRIMAC, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 74
- Total persons involved: 123
- Total vehicles involved: 101
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). "MERRIMAC, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/merrimac/2022-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: 2022-01-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved