Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

94 CRASHES IN
METHUEN, MA
NOVEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2022

In November 2023, METHUEN experienced 94 total crashes, a notable decrease of 28.24% compared to the 131 crashes recorded in November 2022. The most significant year-over-year shift was the increase in total fatalities, rising from 0 in November 2022 to 1 fatality in November 2023.

94

-28.2%was 131

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

41

-6.8%was 44

Persons Injured

8

-11.1%was 9

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

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in METHUEN showed a downward trend year-over-year, decreasing by 37 incidents from 131 crashes in November 2022 to 94 crashes in November 2023. Despite this reduction in total crashes, the number of fatalities increased from 0 to 1 during the same period, indicating a more severe outcome for at least one crash.

8

Hit-and-Run Crashes — November 2023

-11.1% vs prior (9)

Hit-and-run crashes decreased in count from 9 in November 2022 to 8 in November 2023, an 11.1% reduction. However, the hit-and-run rate increased from 6.9% of total crashes in November 2022 to 8.5% in November 2023, indicating that a higher proportion of the fewer total crashes involved a hit-and-run incident.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

41

Motorists Injured

Prior: 44-6.8%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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 Tuesday in November 2022, with 26 incidents, to Wednesday in November 2023, with 20 incidents. The peak hour remained 5 p.m. in both periods, though the number of crashes at this hour decreased from 16 in November 2022 to 12 in November 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes increased from 0 in November 2022 to 1 in November 2023, resulting in a fatal crash rate of 1.06% in the current period. Total injuries saw a slight decrease from 44 in November 2022 to 41 in November 2023. The proportion of minor injury crashes increased from 11.5% to 18.1%, while serious injury crashes, which accounted for 1.5% in the prior period, were absent in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes1.1%
Minor Injury17minor injury crashes18.1%
13.3%prior 15
Possible Injury13possible injury crashes13.8%
-23.5%prior 17
No Injury60no injury crashes63.8%
-36.2%prior 94

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor, 'Followed too closely,' increased from 19 crashes in November 2022 to 21 crashes in November 2023, a 10.5% rise in count. 'No improper driving' decreased significantly from 18 crashes to 9 crashes, a 50% reduction in count. Additionally, 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' more than doubled, increasing from 3 crashes to 7 crashes, a 133.3% increase in count.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too closely21 (22.3%)10.5%prior 19
Failed to yield right of way13 (13.8%)-7.1%prior 14
No improper driving9 (9.6%)-50.0%prior 18
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings7 (7.4%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road7 (7.4%)0.0%prior 7
Inattention7 (7.4%)-56.3%prior 16
Driving too fast for conditions5 (5.3%)-28.6%prior 7
Other improper action5 (5.3%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit4 (4.3%)
Made an improper turn3 (3.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions (Clear or Clear/Clear) decreased from 97 in November 2022 to 72 in November 2023. Crashes during rainy conditions (Rain, Rain/Cloudy, Cloudy/Rain) also decreased from 21 to 11. The number of crashes on dry road surfaces fell from 102 to 69, and on wet road surfaces from 29 to 18.

Weather

Clear56 (60.9%)
30.2%prior 43
Clear/Clear16 (17.4%)
-70.4%prior 54
Rain9 (9.8%)
-18.2%prior 11
Cloudy8 (8.7%)
0.0%prior 8
Rain/Cloudy1 (1.1%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (1.1%)
-80.0%prior 5
Cloudy/Rain1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight46 (48.9%)
-28.1%prior 64
Dark - lighted roadway34 (36.2%)
-29.2%prior 48
Dusk7 (7.4%)
40.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted6 (6.4%)
-33.3%prior 9
Dawn1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry69 (78.4%)
-32.4%prior 102
Wet18 (20.5%)
-37.9%prior 29
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (1.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top vehicle makes involved in crashes saw decreases year-over-year: Honda decreased from 51 to 40, Toyota from 38 to 27, and Chevrolet from 28 to 16. Ford vehicles involved in crashes also decreased from 26 in November 2022 to 19 in November 2023. The age distribution for persons involved in crashes indicates a higher count of individuals aged 16-20 (21 vs 36) and 21-25 (22 vs 46) in the prior period compared to the current period.

Top Vehicle Makes (189 vehicles)

1
HONDA40 (21.2%)
-21.6%prior 51
2
TOYOTA27 (14.3%)
-28.9%prior 38
3
FORD19 (10.1%)
-26.9%prior 26
4
CHEVROLET16 (8.5%)
-42.9%prior 28
5
ACURA11 (5.8%)
120.0%prior 5
6
NISSAN9 (4.8%)
-52.6%prior 19
7
JEEP8 (4.2%)
-27.3%prior 11
8
DODGE7 (3.7%)
16.7%prior 6
9
SUBARU7 (3.7%)
16.7%prior 6
10
HYUNDAI4 (2.1%)
-20.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

19 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (217 persons with recorded sex)

Male129 (59.4%)
-23.7%prior 169
Female88 (40.6%)
-28.5%prior 123

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

In November 2023, there was 1 fatal crash reported in a 20 mph speed zone, representing 50% of crashes in that specific zone. In contrast, November 2022 recorded no fatal crashes across any speed zone. The total number of crashes with a recorded speed limit decreased from 109 in November 2022 to 78 in November 2023.

Fatal crashes by zone: 20 mph: 1 of 2 (50%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: METHUEN, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 94
  • Total persons involved: 242
  • Total vehicles involved: 189

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: November 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/methuen/november-2023-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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Methuen, MA Crash Report — November 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com