Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

127 CRASHES IN
NEWTON, MA
AUGUST 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2024

Total crashes remained stable at 127 in both August 2025 and August 2024. The most notable shift was a decrease in total injuries, falling from 39 in August 2024 to 31 in August 2025. Fatalities remained at 0 in both periods.

127

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

31

-20.5%was 39

Persons Injured

19

11.8%was 17

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. 9 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Total crashes remained stable year-over-year, with 127 crashes recorded in both August 2025 and August 2024. However, total injuries decreased by 20.5% from 39 in August 2024 to 31 in August 2025. Fatalities remained unchanged at 0 for both periods.

19

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2025

11.8% vs prior (17)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 17 in August 2024 to 19 in August 2025, representing a rise of 2 crashes. The hit-and-run rate also increased from 13.4% to 15% year-over-year. This indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 3-66.7%

28

Motorists Injured

Prior: 35-20.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Thursday in August 2024 (27 crashes) to Monday in August 2025 (28 crashes). The peak crash hour remained consistent at 4 PM in both August 2025 and August 2024, with 16 crashes during that hour in both periods. Monday crashes increased from 22 in August 2024 to 28 in August 2025, while Thursday crashes decreased from 27 to 13.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

No fatal crashes or fatalities occurred in either August 2025 or August 2024. The proportion of crashes resulting in Minor Injury (B) decreased from 15% (19 crashes) in August 2024 to 12.6% (16 crashes) in August 2025. Crashes with Possible Injury (C) also decreased, from 7.1% (9 crashes) to 3.1% (4 crashes), while Serious Injury (A) crashes appeared in August 2025 with 2 crashes (1.6%) but were not reported in August 2024.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes1.6%
Minor Injury16minor injury crashes12.6%
-15.8%prior 19
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes3.1%
-55.6%prior 9
No Injury96no injury crashes75.6%
7.9%prior 89

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Inattention increased by 9 crashes, from 33 in August 2024 to 42 in August 2025, maintaining its position as the top contributing factor. "No improper driving" decreased by 3 crashes, from 20 to 17. "Followed too closely" saw a slight increase of 1 crash, from 13 to 14. "Failed to yield right of way" decreased by 3 crashes, from 10 to 7, while "Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road" increased by 3 crashes, from 6 to 9.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention42 (33.1%)27.3%prior 33
No improper driving17 (13.4%)-15.0%prior 20
Followed too closely14 (11%)7.7%prior 13
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road9 (7.1%)50.0%prior 6
Failed to yield right of way7 (5.5%)-30.0%prior 10
Other improper action5 (3.9%)0.0%prior 5
Distracted4 (3.1%)
Visibility obstructed3 (2.4%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (1.6%)
Made an improper turn1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in "Clear" weather conditions increased from 86 in August 2024 to 89 in August 2025, while "Rain" conditions decreased from 8 to 3 crashes. "Wet" road surface crashes decreased from 16 in August 2024 to 11 in August 2025. "Daylight" crashes slightly increased from 105 to 107, and crashes in "Dark - lighted roadway" decreased from 18 to 14.

Weather

Clear89 (70.6%)
3.5%prior 86
Clear/Clear19 (15.1%)
58.3%prior 12
Cloudy6 (4.8%)
-53.8%prior 13
Rain/Cloudy4 (3.2%)
Rain3 (2.4%)
-62.5%prior 8
Cloudy/Rain2 (1.6%)
Clear/Cloudy2 (1.6%)
Rain/Rain1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight107 (85.6%)
1.9%prior 105
Dark - lighted roadway14 (11.2%)
-22.2%prior 18
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (1.6%)
Dusk1 (0.8%)
Other1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry114 (90.5%)
2.7%prior 111
Wet11 (8.7%)
-31.3%prior 16
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Toyota remained the most frequently involved vehicle make, with 40 vehicles in August 2025 compared to 41 in August 2024. Honda involvement decreased from 28 to 25, while Ford involvement increased from 21 to 24. Regarding age distribution, the 26-34 age group saw a significant decrease from 52 persons in August 2024 to 34 in August 2025, while the 0-15 age group increased from 10 to 18 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (237 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA40 (16.9%)
-2.4%prior 41
2
HONDA25 (10.5%)
-10.7%prior 28
3
FORD24 (10.1%)
14.3%prior 21
4
SUBARU21 (8.9%)
61.5%prior 13
5
JEEP14 (5.9%)
0.0%prior 14
6
TESL8 (3.4%)
33.3%prior 6
7
LEXUS8 (3.4%)
-11.1%prior 9
8
ACURA7 (3%)
9
BMW7 (3%)
-12.5%prior 8
10
HYUNDAI7 (3%)
16.7%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (262 persons with recorded sex)

Female131 (50.0%)
47.2%prior 89
Male131 (50.0%)
-16.6%prior 157

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 MPH speed limit zone significantly increased from 59 in August 2024 to 83 in August 2025. Conversely, crashes in the 55 MPH zone decreased from 23 to 15. The 30 MPH zone also saw a reduction in crashes, from 18 to 6. No fatal crashes were reported in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · 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: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NEWTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 127
  • Total persons involved: 298
  • Total vehicles involved: 237

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). "NEWTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/newton/august-2025-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

Newton, MA Crash Report — August 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com