Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

17 CRASHES IN
NEWBURYPORT, MA
SEPTEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstSeptember 2022

In September 2023, Newburyport experienced 17 crashes, a 22.7% decrease from the 22 crashes recorded in September 2022. The most notable year-over-year shift was a 60% reduction in total injuries, decreasing from 5 in the prior period to 2 in the current period.

17

-22.7%was 22

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

2

-60.0%was 5

Persons Injured

3

50.0%was 2

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 · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a decrease in crash activity, with total crashes falling by 22.7% from 22 to 17. Concurrently, total injuries saw a significant reduction of 60%, dropping from 5 to 2, while fatalities remained at 0 in both periods.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2023

50.0% vs prior (2)

The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 2 in September 2022 to 3 in September 2023. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate rose from 9.1% of all crashes in the prior period to 17.6% in the current period, indicating an upward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Injured

Prior: 5-60.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · 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 Wednesday in both periods, with 8 crashes in the current period compared to 5 in the prior period. However, the peak hour shifted from 4 PM with 3 crashes in September 2022 to 2 PM with 5 crashes in September 2023. Crashes on Saturdays and Sundays decreased from 3 and 2 respectively in the prior period to 0 crashes on both days in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at 0 in both September 2022 and September 2023. Total injuries decreased from 5 in the prior period to 2 in the current period. Serious injuries, which accounted for 1 crash (4.5% of total crashes) in the prior period, were not recorded in the current period, while minor injuries decreased from 3 crashes (13.6%) to 1 crash (5.9%).

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes5.9%
-66.7%prior 3
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes5.9%
No Injury13no injury crashes76.5%
-13.3%prior 15

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Inattention as a contributing factor decreased from 10 crashes in September 2022 to 4 crashes in September 2023, representing a 60% reduction in count. Conversely, 'No improper driving' increased from 2 crashes (9.1% share) in the prior period to 5 crashes (29.4% share) in the current period, a 150% increase in count. Factors such as 'Swerving or avoiding' and 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' were present in the prior period with 2 and 1 crash respectively, but were not recorded in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving5 (29.4%)
Inattention4 (23.5%)-60.0%prior 10
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (5.9%)
Visibility obstructed1 (5.9%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (5.9%)
Followed too closely1 (5.9%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (5.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions remained the most frequent, with 12 crashes in the current period compared to 11 in the prior period (excluding 'Clear/Unknown' and 'Clear/Other' classifications). The number of crashes under wet road surface conditions remained stable at 4 in both periods, while crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 17 to 13. Crashes occurring in daylight decreased from 17 in the prior period to 15 in the current period.

Weather

Clear12 (70.6%)
9.1%prior 11
Cloudy3 (17.6%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (5.9%)
Rain1 (5.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight15 (88.2%)
-11.8%prior 17
Dark - lighted roadway2 (11.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry13 (76.5%)
-23.5%prior 17
Wet4 (23.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (33 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA6 (18.2%)
20.0%prior 5
2
CHEVROLET5 (15.2%)
3
FORD4 (12.1%)
-50.0%prior 8
4
NISSAN2 (6.1%)
5
SUBARU2 (6.1%)
6
KAWK1 (3%)
7
KIA1 (3%)
8
LEXUS1 (3%)
9
MERCEDES-BENZ1 (3%)
10
BMW1 (3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Vehicle unit records

8 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (28 persons with recorded sex)

Male17 (60.7%)
-22.7%prior 22
Female11 (39.3%)
-35.3%prior 17

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 25 mph speed zones remained consistent at 9 crashes in both September 2022 and September 2023. Crashes in 35 mph speed zones decreased from 6 in the prior period to 2 in the current period. There were no fatal crashes reported in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · 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: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: NEWBURYPORT, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 17
  • Total persons involved: 38
  • Total vehicles involved: 33

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). "NEWBURYPORT, MA Crash Intelligence Report: September 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/newburyport/september-2023-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

Newburyport, MA Crash Report — September 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com