ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MERRIMAC, 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/merrimac/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
82 CRASHES IN
MERRIMAC, MA
2023
In Merrimac, total traffic crashes increased from 74 in 2022 to 82 in 2023, a 10.8% rise. While total fatalities remained stable with one death recorded in each year, the most notable year-over-year shift was the change in victim type from a motorist in 2022 to a pedestrian in 2023. The total number of injuries remained relatively stable, increasing slightly from 31 to 32.
82
▲ 10.8%was 74
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
32
▲ 3.2%was 31
Persons Injured
1
▼ -50.0%was 2
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. 2 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
Overall traffic safety trends in Merrimac show an increase in crash frequency year-over-year. The total number of crashes rose by 10.8%, from 74 incidents in 2022 to 82 in 2023. While the number of fatalities held steady at one, total injuries saw a marginal increase from 31 to 32.
1
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▼ -50.0% vs prior (2)
Hit-and-run incidents showed a downward trend in the current year compared to the prior year. The total count of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 2 in 2022 to 1 in 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate as a percentage of all crashes fell from 2.7% to 1.2%.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Pedestrians Injured
32
Motorists 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 timing of crashes showed a distinct shift between the two periods. In 2022, the peak day for collisions was Friday with 18 incidents, and the peak hour was 4 p.m. with 10 crashes. In 2023, the peak shifted to Wednesday and Sunday, which tied for the most crashes with 15 each, while the peak hour moved later to 5 p.m., which saw 6 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
The severity of crashes shifted year-over-year, with a decrease in more severe non-fatal incidents. While the number of fatal crashes was unchanged at one, the fatal crash rate as a percentage of all crashes decreased slightly from 1.4% to 1.2%. The count of serious injury crashes was halved, dropping from 4 in 2022 to 2 in 2023, and the share of non-injury crashes grew from 68.9% to 72.0% of all incidents.
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
While 'No improper driving' was the most common circumstance in both years with a stable count of 29 crashes, the prevalence of other factors changed. Crashes attributed to an 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' saw a significant count-based increase, rising from 1 incident in 2022 to 5 in 2023. Conversely, 'Fatigued/asleep', which was a factor in 6 crashes in the prior year, was not cited in any crashes in the current year.
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
Crash conditions varied between the two years, particularly concerning road surface. Crashes on wet roads increased significantly, from 5 incidents in 2022 to 19 in 2023. In contrast, crashes occurring on snow or ice dropped from a combined 11 incidents to just 1. The majority of crashes in both periods happened in daylight and on dry roads, though the proportion of crashes on wet surfaces increased.
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 demographics of vehicles and persons involved in crashes shifted year-over-year. While Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make, increasing from 15 to 21 vehicles, the age of persons involved changed notably. In 2022, the 55-64 age group was most represented with 26 individuals, but in 2023, younger groups became more prominent, with the 26-34 age group leading at 24 individuals. The total number of persons aged 16-25 involved in crashes increased from 24 to 43.
Top Vehicle Makes (112 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
12 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (131 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
The distribution of crashes across different speed zones changed between the two years. Crashes in 65 mph zones decreased from 46 in 2022 to 39 in 2023. The single fatality in 2023 occurred in a 30 mph zone, a shift from the prior year when the fatal crash happened in a 65 mph zone. There was a notable increase in crashes recorded in 30 mph zones, with 18 such incidents in 2023.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 18 (5.556%)
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: MERRIMAC, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 82
- Total persons involved: 150
- Total vehicles involved: 112
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: 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/merrimac/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