ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NEEDHAM, 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/needham/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
503 CRASHES IN
NEEDHAM, MA
2023
In 2023, Needham recorded 503 total traffic crashes, a slight decrease from the 507 crashes in 2022. While the overall crash volume remained stable, there was a notable shift in crash types, with hit-and-run incidents more than doubling from 22 in 2022 to 45 in 2023. Concurrently, the number of people injured in crashes fell from 131 to 103, though total fatalities increased from one to two.
503
▼ -0.8%was 507
Total Crash Events
2
▲ 100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
103
▼ -21.4%was 131
Persons Injured
45
▲ 104.5%was 22
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 16 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 crash trends in Needham were relatively stable, with total collisions decreasing by less than 1% from 507 in 2022 to 503 in 2023. However, the severity of outcomes shifted, as total injuries decreased by 21.4% (from 131 to 103), while total fatalities rose from one to two persons.
45
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▲ 104.5% vs prior (22)
Hit-and-run crashes increased significantly in 2023 compared to the prior year. The number of hit-and-run incidents more than doubled, rising from 22 in 2022 to 45 in 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also more than doubled, increasing from 4.3% of all crashes in 2022 to 8.9% in 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
1
Motorists Killed
11
Pedestrians Injured
6
Cyclists Injured
86
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 temporal patterns of crashes remained consistent year-over-year. Wednesday was the peak day for crashes in both 2023 (94 crashes) and 2022 (95 crashes). The afternoon commute period continued to be the most frequent time for incidents, though the specific peak hour shifted slightly earlier from 3 PM in 2022 (56 crashes) to 2 PM in 2023 (46 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 showed a mixed trend. The number of fatal crashes increased from one in 2022 to two in 2023, raising the fatal crash rate from 0.2% to 0.4%. Conversely, crashes involving serious injuries saw a significant reduction, dropping from 12 incidents (2.4% of total) in 2022 to 4 incidents (0.8% of total) in 2023. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injuries increased from 76.1% to 80.5%.
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
The leading contributing factors for crashes shifted between the two years. In 2023, 'Failed to yield right of way' became the top factor with 89 incidents, an increase of 15.6% from its 2022 count of 77. 'Inattention,' the top factor in 2022 with 85 incidents, saw its count decrease by 24.7% to 64 incidents in 2023, making it the third-ranked factor.
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
Crashes in both periods predominantly occurred in clear, dry, and daylight conditions. In 2023, the proportion of crashes on dry roads was 81.1%, up from 77.9% in 2022. There was a notable decrease in crashes occurring on snow or ice, which fell from a combined 38 incidents in 2022 to just 7 incidents in 2023.
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 makes of vehicles involved in crashes were highly consistent year-over-year, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford being the top three in both 2023 and 2022. Regarding the age of persons involved, there was a decrease in the 26-34 and 65+ age groups, which accounted for 150 and 173 individuals in 2022, respectively, compared to 123 and 144 in 2023. The 35-44 age group saw an increase in involvement from 158 to 176 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (934 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
109 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (988 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 remained largely unchanged between 2022 and 2023. The 30 mph zone accounted for the highest number of crashes in both years, with 303 in 2023 and 321 in 2022. A notable change occurred in fatal crash locations; while 2022 saw one fatality in a 30 mph zone, 2023 recorded one fatality in a 30 mph zone and an additional fatality in a 55 mph zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 303 (0.33%) · 55 mph: 1 of 96 (1.042%)
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: NEEDHAM, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 503
- Total persons involved: 1,097
- Total vehicles involved: 934
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). "NEEDHAM, 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/needham/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