ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NEEDHAM, MA · AUGUST 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/needham/august-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
35 CRASHES IN
NEEDHAM, MA
AUGUST 2024
In August 2024, Needham experienced a decrease in total crashes, with 35 incidents reported compared to 46 in August 2023, representing a 23.9% reduction. This period also saw a significant 42.9% decrease in total injuries, falling from 7 to 4. Notably, there were no fatalities in either August 2023 or August 2024.
35
▼ -23.9%was 46
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
4
▼ -42.9%was 7
Persons Injured
2
▼ -50.0%was 4
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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash data for August 2024 indicates a positive trend with a decrease in total incidents and injuries compared to the prior year. Total crashes fell by 23.9%, from 46 to 35, while total injuries decreased by 42.9%, from 7 to 4. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.
2
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2024
▼ -50.0% vs prior (4)
Hit-and-run incidents decreased by 50% year-over-year, from 4 crashes in August 2023 to 2 crashes in August 2024. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also saw a reduction, falling from 8.7% to 5.7% of total crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
1
Cyclists Injured
3
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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 year-over-year, with the peak day changing from Monday (12 crashes) in August 2023 to Friday (7 crashes) in August 2024. Monday crashes saw a substantial decrease from 12 to 2. The peak crash hour also shifted slightly from 5 PM (7 crashes) in the prior year to 4 PM (7 crashes) in the current period.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The overall injury rate decreased from 15.2% of crashes in August 2023 to 11.4% in August 2024. While there were no fatal crashes in either period, minor injuries (severity code 'B') decreased from 4 to 2, and possible injuries (severity code 'C') remained stable at 2 crashes each year. The proportion of 'No Injury' crashes increased slightly from 84.8% to 85.7%.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Contributing factors saw notable shifts; 'Followed too closely' crashes decreased significantly from 10 to 2, an 80% reduction in count. Conversely, 'Inattention' crashes increased from 5 to 9, an 80% increase in count, making it a leading factor in the current period. 'Failed to yield right of way' also decreased from 6 crashes to 2 crashes, a 66.7% reduction in count.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions accounted for a higher proportion in August 2024 at 85.7% (30 crashes) compared to 71.7% (33 crashes) in August 2023. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces increased proportionally from 78.3% (36 crashes) to 88.6% (31 crashes). The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight conditions saw a slight decrease from 89.1% (41 crashes) to 85.7% (30 crashes) year-over-year.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 89 to 64 year-over-year. TOYOTA became the most frequently involved make with 14 vehicles in August 2024, up from 11, while HONDA involvement significantly decreased from 13 to 3 vehicles. The age group 35-44 saw a substantial decrease in involved persons from 21 to 6, whereas persons aged 55-64 involved in crashes increased from 7 to 13.
Top Vehicle Makes (64 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
6 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (72 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
In both periods, the highest number of crashes occurred in 30 mph zones, decreasing from 25 crashes in August 2023 to 21 crashes in August 2024. Crashes in 55 mph zones also saw a reduction, from 13 to 7. There was an increase in crashes in 25 mph zones, from 1 to 3, and 2 crashes occurred in 20 mph zones in August 2024 where none were reported in the prior year.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: NEEDHAM, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 35
- Total persons involved: 78
- Total vehicles involved: 64
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: August 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/needham/august-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: 2024-08-01 – 2024-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved