ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NEW BEDFORD, MA · JANUARY 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/new-bedford/january-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
282 CRASHES IN
NEW BEDFORD, MA
JANUARY 2024
In January 2024, NEW BEDFORD, MA experienced 282 crashes, a decrease of 7.54% compared to the 305 crashes recorded in January 2023. The most notable change was the increase in total fatalities, rising from 0 in the prior year to 1 in the current period.
282
▼ -7.5%was 305
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
66
▼ -28.3%was 92
Persons Injured
44
▲ 83.3%was 24
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. 27 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total crashes in NEW BEDFORD, MA decreased by 7.54% from 305 in January 2023 to 282 in January 2024. Total injuries also saw a significant decline, falling from 92 to 66, representing a 28.3% reduction. However, the period saw a concerning increase in fatalities, with 1 fatality recorded in January 2024 compared to 0 in January 2023.
44
Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2024
▲ 83.3% vs prior (24)
Hit-and-run incidents in NEW BEDFORD, MA significantly increased year-over-year, rising from 24 crashes in January 2023 to 44 crashes in January 2024. This represents an increase of 20 incidents. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate nearly doubled, climbing from 7.9% in the prior period to 15.6% in the current period, indicating an upward trend.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
63
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns for crashes in NEW BEDFORD, MA showed some shifts year-over-year. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday with 48 incidents in January 2023 to Wednesday with 49 incidents in January 2024. Similarly, the peak hour for crashes shifted from 3 PM with 35 incidents in the prior year to 2 PM with 34 incidents in the current year.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The severity distribution of crashes in NEW BEDFORD, MA saw a notable change, with fatal crashes increasing from 0 in January 2023 to 1 in January 2024. Concurrently, serious injury crashes decreased from 4 to 2, and minor injury crashes fell from 43 to 33. Overall, crashes resulting in any injury (serious, minor, or possible) decreased from 72 in the prior period to 51 in the current period.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Analysis of contributing factors reveals shifts in crash causation. 'No improper driving' increased by 12 incidents, from 75 in January 2023 to 87 in January 2024, and its share of crashes rose from 24.6% to 30.9%. Conversely, 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a decrease of 11 incidents, falling from 29 to 18, causing its share to drop from 9.5% to 6.4% and its rank to shift from tied second to third. Additionally, 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' decreased significantly from 13 incidents to 4 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crash conditions saw varied changes between the two periods. Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather decreased from 164 to 145, while 'Rain' related crashes also declined from 42 to 22. Conversely, crashes in 'Snow' conditions increased from 8 to 15. Regarding road surface, 'Wet' road crashes significantly decreased from 110 to 65, but crashes on 'Snow' and 'Slush' surfaces increased from 5 to 10 and 1 to 8 respectively.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 593 in January 2023 to 551 in January 2024. Among vehicle makes, Toyota saw a decrease of 28 vehicles involved, dropping from 97 to 69, and its ranking shifted from first to second. Conversely, Honda increased by 3 vehicles, from 73 to 76, and became the top make involved in crashes.
Top Vehicle Makes (551 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Vehicle unit records
141 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (505 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone decreased from 182 in January 2023 to 153 in January 2024, but this zone saw a fatality in the current period compared to zero in the prior period. Crashes in the 25 mph zone increased from 42 to 55, indicating a slight shift towards crashes in lower speed zones. Conversely, crashes in the 65 mph zone decreased from 8 to 4.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 153 (0.654%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-01-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-01-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: NEW BEDFORD, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 282
- Total persons involved: 659
- Total vehicles involved: 551
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: January 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/new-bedford/january-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: 2024-01-01 – 2024-01-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved