Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

4 CRASHES IN
MERRIMAC, MA
OCTOBER 2022

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2021

Total crashes in MERRIMAC, MA decreased by 50% from 8 in October 2021 to 4 in October 2022. Despite this reduction in overall crash volume, the number of total injuries increased by 200%, rising from 1 injury in the prior period to 3 injuries in the current period.

4

-50.0%was 8

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

3

200.0%was 1

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, total crashes in MERRIMAC, MA decreased by 50%, from 8 crashes in October 2021 to 4 crashes in October 2022. Conversely, total injuries saw a substantial increase of 200%, rising from 1 injury in the prior year to 3 injuries in the current year. Fatalities remained at 0 in both periods.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

3

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1200.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · 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 Sunday, with 3 crashes in October 2021, to Thursday, with 2 crashes in October 2022. The peak crash hour also changed, moving from 6p with 2 crashes in the prior period to 9p with 1 crash in the current period. Crashes in the current period were distributed across fewer days and hours compared to the prior period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The fatal crash rate remained at 0% in both October 2021 and October 2022. The proportion of crashes involving injuries significantly increased, from 12.5% (1 injury crash out of 8 total) in the prior period to 50% (2 injury crashes out of 4 total) in the current period. The current period also saw 1 serious injury, which was not present in the prior period, while minor injuries increased from 1 to 2.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes25%
Minor Injury1minor injury crashes25%
0.0%prior 1
No Injury2no injury crashes50%
-71.4%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The count of crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased by 50%, from 4 crashes in October 2021 to 2 crashes in October 2022. Crashes due to 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' remained consistent at 1 crash in both periods. The factor 'Fatigued/asleep' emerged in the current period with 1 crash, while 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' and 'Glare', each accounting for 1 crash in the prior period, were not reported in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving2 (50%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (25%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (25%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Daylight' conditions decreased from 5 in October 2021 to 2 in October 2022. The number of crashes in 'Dark - roadway not lighted' conditions remained constant at 1 in both periods. Conditions such as 'Dark - lighted roadway' and 'Dusk', each present with 1 crash in the prior period, were not observed in the current period.

Lighting

Daylight2 (50.0%)
-60.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (25.0%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (25.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (6 vehicles)

1
CHEVROLET2 (33.3%)
2
AUDI1 (16.7%)
3
FORD1 (16.7%)
4
NISSAN1 (16.7%)
5
SUBARU1 (16.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

Sex Distribution (9 persons with recorded sex)

Male8 (88.9%)
0.0%prior 8
Female1 (11.1%)
-66.7%prior 3

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 65 mph speed zones remained at 4 in both October 2021 and October 2022. However, crashes in 35 mph and 40 mph zones, each accounting for 1 crash in the prior period, were not present in the current period. In October 2022, all 4 crashes occurred in 65 mph zones, compared to 50% of crashes (4 out of 8) in 65 mph zones during October 2021.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31 · 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: 2022-10-01 through 2022-10-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-10-01 through 2022-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: MERRIMAC, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 4
  • Total persons involved: 9
  • Total vehicles involved: 6

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: October 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2022-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/merrimac/october-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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Merrimac, MA Crash Report — October 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com