ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · METHUEN, MA · FEBRUARY 2024
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/methuen/february-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
97 CRASHES IN
METHUEN, MA
FEBRUARY 2024
METHUEN, MA experienced a 21.25% increase in total crashes year-over-year, rising from 80 crashes in February 2023 to 97 crashes in February 2024. Despite the increase in total crashes, fatalities remained at zero in both periods. The most notable shift was a 700% increase in hit-and-run crashes, climbing from 1 to 8.
97
▲ 21.3%was 80
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
31
▼ -6.1%was 33
Persons Injured
8
▲ 700.0%was 1
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. 3 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crashes in METHUEN, MA showed an upward trend, increasing by 17 incidents from 80 in February 2023 to 97 in February 2024. This represents a 21.25% rise in total crashes year-over-year. Total injuries saw a slight decrease from 33 to 31, while total fatalities remained unchanged at zero.
8
Hit-and-Run Crashes — February 2024
▲ 700.0% vs prior (1)
Hit-and-run crashes increased substantially, rising from 1 incident in February 2023 to 8 incidents in February 2024. This resulted in a significant increase in the hit-and-run rate, from 1.3% of total crashes to 8.2% of total crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
3
Pedestrians Injured
28
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal distribution of crashes shifted significantly year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday with 19 incidents in February 2023 to Wednesday with 18 incidents in February 2024. Furthermore, the peak crash hour shifted from 12 AM with 45 incidents in February 2023 to 6 PM with 14 incidents in February 2024.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes remained at zero in both February 2023 and February 2024. Serious injuries remained constant at 1 in both periods, although their share of total crashes decreased from 1.3% to 1%. Minor injuries increased from 12 to 15, while possible injuries decreased from 10 to 8.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor shifted from 'Failed to yield right of way' (17 incidents) in February 2023 to 'Followed too closely' (27 incidents) in February 2024. 'Followed too closely' crashes increased by 200% in count, rising from 9 to 27. Conversely, 'Inattention' crashes decreased by 36.4% in count, falling from 11 to 7.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The proportion of crashes occurring on adverse road surfaces significantly decreased year-over-year, falling from 30% (24 out of 80 crashes) in February 2023 to 8.2% (8 out of 97 crashes) in February 2024. Crashes in daylight conditions decreased from 55 to 48, while crashes in dark-lighted roadway conditions increased from 20 to 36.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes remained Honda, Toyota, and Ford in both periods, all showing an increase in counts. The age group with the highest number of involved persons shifted from 65+ (26 persons) in February 2023 to 26-34 (49 persons) in February 2024. The number of persons aged 65+ involved in crashes decreased from 26 to 13.
Top Vehicle Makes (187 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Vehicle unit records
16 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (204 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 65 mph speed zone doubled year-over-year, increasing from 8 incidents in February 2023 to 16 incidents in February 2024. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph speed zone decreased from 23 to 16. Fatal rates remained at zero across all speed zones in both periods.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · 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: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-02-01 through 2024-02-29 (29 days)
- Geographic scope: METHUEN, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 97
- Total persons involved: 231
- Total vehicles involved: 187
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). "METHUEN, MA Crash Intelligence Report: February 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/methuen/february-2024-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: 2024-02-01 – 2024-02-29
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved