ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NEWTON, 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/newton/december-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
166 CRASHES IN
NEWTON, MA
DECEMBER 2024
Total crashes in December 2024 increased by 16.08% to 166, up from 143 crashes in December 2023. This period saw a notable increase in crashes where 'Inattention' was a contributing factor, rising from 25 to 44 incidents. Despite the overall rise in crashes, there were no fatalities reported in either period.
166
▲ 16.1%was 143
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
31
▲ 14.8%was 27
Persons Injured
20
▼ -13.0%was 23
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. 11 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
Overall crash data for December in NEWTON, MA shows an upward trend, with total crashes increasing by 16.08% year-over-year. The number of crashes rose from 143 in December 2023 to 166 in December 2024. Total injuries also increased from 27 to 31 during this period.
20
Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2024
▼ -13.0% vs prior (23)
The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 23 in December 2023 to 20 in December 2024. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate also decreased from 16.1% in the prior year to 12% in the current year. This indicates a positive trend in the reduction of hit-and-run incidents.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
3
Cyclists Injured
28
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 shifted from Thursday in December 2023, with 25 crashes, to Friday in December 2024, with 45 crashes. The peak hour also moved from 5 PM in the prior year, with 17 crashes, to 6 PM in the current year, with 18 crashes. This indicates a shift in the timing of peak crash activity within the week and day.
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 fatalities reported in either December 2023 or December 2024. Serious injuries remained constant at 1 crash in both periods. Minor injury crashes decreased from 16 to 12, while possible injury crashes more than doubled, increasing from 4 to 11 incidents.
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 leading contributing factor, 'Inattention,' increased from 25 crashes in December 2023 to 44 crashes in December 2024, a 76% increase in count. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' decreased by 13 incidents, from 39 to 26, representing a 33.3% reduction in count. 'Followed too closely' also saw a slight increase from 17 to 19 crashes, a rise of 11.8% in count.
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 conditions decreased slightly from 90 to 86, while those during snowy conditions significantly increased from 1 to 15. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 106 to 102, but incidents on snow-covered roads surged from 1 to 20. Crashes during daylight hours increased from 78 to 91, and those in dark-lighted roadway conditions rose from 53 to 59.
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 in crashes increased from 271 in December 2023 to 312 in December 2024. Toyota remained the top vehicle make involved, increasing from 53 to 64 vehicles, while Ford also saw a rise from 22 to 32 vehicles. Among persons involved, the 0-15 age group saw a decrease from 18 to 12, whereas the 26-34 age group experienced a notable increase from 54 to 73 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (312 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-12-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
38 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (335 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 saw a significant increase, rising from 57 in December 2023 to 85 in December 2024. Conversely, crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 36 to 30, and those in 55 mph zones also declined from 22 to 15. No fatalities were recorded in any speed zone during either period.
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: NEWTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 166
- Total persons involved: 372
- Total vehicles involved: 312
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: 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/newton/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