ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NEW BEDFORD, 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/new-bedford/2023-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
3,798 CRASHES IN
NEW BEDFORD, MA
2023
In 2023, New Bedford recorded 3,798 traffic crashes, a slight decrease of 1.0% from the 3,836 crashes reported in 2022. While overall crashes remained relatively stable, the most significant year-over-year change was a 67.5% increase in hit-and-run incidents, which rose from 354 in 2022 to 593 in 2023.
3,798
▼ -1.0%was 3,836
Total Crash Events
5
▲ 25.0%was 4
Persons Killed
1,060
▼ -5.9%was 1,126
Persons Injured
593
▲ 67.5%was 354
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (5) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 445 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 traffic crashes in New Bedford saw a slight year-over-year decline, falling by 1.0% from 3,836 in 2022 to 3,798 in 2023. This trend included a 5.9% decrease in the total number of injuries reported, from 1,126 to 1,060. However, the number of fatalities increased from 4 in the prior period to 5 in the current period.
593
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023
▲ 67.5% vs prior (354)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased substantially in 2023 compared to the previous year. The count rose by 67.5%, from 354 incidents in 2022 to 593 in 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, which measures the proportion of total crashes that are hit-and-runs, grew from 9.2% in 2022 to 15.6% in 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
4
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
57
Pedestrians Injured
23
Cyclists Injured
977
Motorists Injured
3
Other 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 in New Bedford remained consistent year-over-year. In both 2023 and 2022, Friday was the day with the highest number of crashes, recording 583 and 621 incidents, respectively. Similarly, the 3 p.m. hour was the peak time for crashes in both periods, with 293 crashes in 2023 and 332 in 2022.
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 shifted slightly between the two periods. The fatal crash rate increased from 0.10% in 2022 to 0.13% in 2023, corresponding to a rise from 4 to 5 fatal crashes. Crashes resulting in serious injuries also saw a modest increase in both count (from 47 to 52) and proportion (from 1.2% to 1.4% of total crashes). Conversely, crashes involving minor or possible injuries decreased as a share of the total.
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 remained largely consistent year-over-year, with 'No improper driving' cited in 1,090 crashes in 2023 versus 1,034 in 2022. 'Inattention' remained the second-most cited factor, though its count decreased by 4.0% from 380 to 365. A notable change was observed in crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way,' which increased in count by 22.2% from 243 incidents in 2022 to 297 in 2023, moving it to 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
Environmental conditions at the time of crashes were broadly similar across both years. In 2023, 70.3% of crashes occurred in clear weather, compared to 71.7% in 2022. Crashes on dry roads accounted for 83.2% of the total in 2023 and 81.6% in 2022. Similarly, the majority of incidents in both periods happened during daylight hours (66.0% in 2023 vs. 67.5% in 2022), indicating no significant shift in crash conditions year-over-year.
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 top five vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Honda, Ford, Nissan, and Chevrolet—remained unchanged in their ranking between 2022 and 2023. Regarding the age of persons involved, there was a shift between the two largest cohorts; the number of individuals aged 26-34 decreased from 1,509 to 1,326, while those aged 35-44 increased from 1,171 to 1,305. Other demographic distributions showed minimal change.
Top Vehicle Makes (7,521 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
2,018 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (6,748 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 speed zones remained similar year-over-year, with the 30 mph zone accounting for the most incidents in both 2023 (2,297 crashes) and 2022 (2,400 crashes). However, the location of fatal crashes shifted; in 2023, three of the five fatal crashes occurred in 65 mph zones, compared to one of four in 2022. Conversely, the two fatal crashes that occurred in 50 mph zones in 2022 were not repeated in 2023, which saw zero fatalities in that speed zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 2,297 (0.044%) · 35 mph: 1 of 118 (0.847%) · 65 mph: 3 of 127 (2.362%)
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: NEW BEDFORD, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 3,798
- Total persons involved: 9,036
- Total vehicles involved: 7,521
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). "NEW BEDFORD, 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/new-bedford/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