ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NEEDHAM, MA · DECEMBER 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/december-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
44 CRASHES IN
NEEDHAM, MA
DECEMBER 2024
The total number of crashes in December 2024 remained stable at 44, matching the 44 crashes reported in December 2023. A notable shift occurred in total injuries, which decreased by 50% from 10 in December 2023 to 5 in December 2024. Pedestrian crashes also saw a significant decrease, falling from 4 in the prior period to 1 in the current period.
44
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
5
▼ -50.0%was 10
Persons Injured
6
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. 2 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
The overall trend for total crashes remained stable year-over-year, with 44 crashes recorded in both December 2024 and December 2023, representing a 0% change. Despite this stability in total crash count, total injuries decreased by 50% from 10 to 5, indicating a positive trend in crash severity outcomes.
6
Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2024
▼ 0.0% vs prior (6)
The number of hit-and-run crashes remained stable at 6 in both December 2024 and December 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also remained unchanged at 13.6% for both periods, showing no year-over-year trend in this metric.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
1
Pedestrians Injured
4
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes remained Monday in both periods, with 10 crashes each. However, the peak hour shifted from 5 p.m. with 4 crashes in December 2023 to 6 p.m. with 6 crashes in December 2024, marking a 50% increase in crashes at that hour. Additionally, crashes at 7 p.m. increased from 1 in the prior period to 3 in the current period, a 200% increase.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
There were no fatal crashes or fatalities in either period. Total injuries decreased by 50%, from 10 in December 2023 to 5 in December 2024. Serious injuries (Severity A) decreased from 1 to 0, and minor injuries (Severity B) decreased by 50% from 4 to 2, while possible injuries (Severity C) remained stable at 2 crashes in both periods.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor shifted from 'Inattention' in December 2023 (9 crashes) to 'No improper driving' in December 2024 (9 crashes), which represents a 50% increase in count for 'No improper driving' and a 33.3% decrease in count for 'Inattention'. 'Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings' increased by 200% in count, rising from 1 crash in the prior period to 3 crashes in the current period. 'Followed too closely' increased by 25% in count, from 4 crashes to 5 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather decreased from 31 to 29, while crashes in 'Snow' conditions increased from 0 to 3. Regarding lighting, crashes during 'Daylight' decreased by 5 from 28 to 23, but crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' increased by 7 from 6 to 13. On road surfaces, 'Dry' conditions saw a decrease of 5 crashes, from 36 to 31, while crashes on 'Snow' surfaces increased from 0 to 6.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved increased slightly from 80 in December 2023 to 83 in December 2024. Honda vehicles involved in crashes increased by 1, from 12 to 13, while Toyota vehicles decreased by 11, from 23 to 12. Subaru vehicles increased by 4, from 3 to 7. The age group 21-25 saw a 233.3% increase in person count, rising from 3 to 10, and the 35-44 age group increased by 3 persons, from 12 to 15. The 55-64 age group saw a decrease of 6 persons, from 16 to 10. The number of males involved increased by 8, from 38 to 46, while females decreased by 7, from 41 to 34.
Top Vehicle Makes (83 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
18 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (80 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 25 mph speed zones increased by 100% in count, from 2 in December 2023 to 4 in December 2024. Crashes in 40 mph zones also increased by 100% in count, from 1 to 2. Conversely, crashes in 55 mph zones decreased by 33.3% in count, from 9 to 6. All speed zones reported zero fatal crashes in both periods.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-12-01 through 2024-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-12-01 through 2024-12-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: NEEDHAM, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 44
- Total persons involved: 97
- Total vehicles involved: 83
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: December 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/needham/december-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: 2024-12-01 – 2024-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved