Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

5 CRASHES IN
MERRIMAC, MA
APRIL 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstApril 2025

In April 2026, Merrimac experienced 5 crashes, marking a 17% decrease compared to the 6 crashes recorded in April 2025. A notable shift is the complete absence of injuries in April 2026, down from 3 injuries in the prior year.

5

-16.7%was 6

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

0

-100.0%was 3

Persons Injured

0

Fatal Crash Events

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash trends in Merrimac show a decline in April 2026 compared to April 2025. Total crashes decreased by 1, from 6 to 5, representing a 17% reduction. More significantly, injuries dropped by 100%, from 3 in April 2025 to 0 in April 2026.

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted significantly year-over-year. In April 2026, the peak day for crashes was Monday with 4 incidents, whereas in April 2025, Wednesday was the peak day with 3 crashes. The peak hour also changed, with April 2026 seeing 2 crashes at 4 AM, while April 2025's peak hour was 9 PM with 1 crash.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factors to crashes saw a shift in April 2026 compared to April 2025. 'No improper driving' remained a factor in 1 crash in both periods. Factors such as 'Inattention' (2 crashes), 'Fatigued/asleep' (1 crash), and 'Glare' (1 crash) were present in April 2025 but not recorded in April 2026. Conversely, 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' (1 crash), 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' (1 crash), and 'Over-correcting/over-steering' (1 crash) appeared as contributing factors only in April 2026.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (20%)
No improper driving1 (20%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (20%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (20%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The weather conditions remained largely clear in both April 2026 and April 2025, with 4 crashes occurring in clear conditions in the current period and 5 in the prior period. Lighting conditions saw a shift; April 2025 recorded 5 crashes in daylight and 1 in dark-lighted conditions, while April 2026 had 2 crashes in daylight and 2 in dark-unlighted conditions. Data on road surface conditions is not available for April 2026, preventing a year-over-year comparison.

Weather

Clear2 (50.0%)
Clear/Clear2 (50.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Dark - roadway not lighted2 (50.0%)
Daylight2 (50.0%)
-60.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Lighting condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (9 vehicles)

1
CHEVROLET3 (33.3%)
2
TOYOTA2 (22.2%)
3
FORD1 (11.1%)
4
HONDA1 (11.1%)
5
INTERNATIONAL I1 (11.1%)
6
WESTERN STAR1 (11.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Vehicle unit records

Sex Distribution (10 persons with recorded sex)

Male9 (90.0%)
Female1 (10.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones changed between April 2025 and April 2026. Crashes occurring in 30 mph zones remained constant at 1 incident in both periods. However, crashes in 65 mph zones increased from 1 in April 2025 to 3 in April 2026. Additionally, speed zones of 25 mph, 35 mph, and 40 mph, which accounted for 1, 2, and 1 crash respectively in April 2025, did not have any recorded crashes in April 2026.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30 · 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: 2026-04-01 through 2026-04-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-04-01 through 2026-04-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: MERRIMAC, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 5
  • Total persons involved: 10
  • Total vehicles involved: 9

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: April 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-04-01 to 2026-04-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/merrimac/april-2026-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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Merrimac, MA Crash Report — April 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com