Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

119 CRASHES IN
NEWTON, MA
JULY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2023

Total crashes in NEWTON, MA for July 2024 were 119, a decrease of 14.39% compared to 139 crashes in July 2023. The most notable year-over-year shift was a 43.75% decrease in total injuries, falling from 48 in July 2023 to 27 in July 2024.

119

-14.4%was 139

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

27

-43.8%was 48

Persons Injured

12

-14.3%was 14

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 · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash activity in NEWTON, MA for July 2024 showed a downward trend compared to July 2023. Total crashes decreased by 14.39%, from 139 to 119. Total injuries also significantly declined by 43.75%, from 48 to 27, while fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

12

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2024

-14.3% vs prior (14)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 14 in July 2023 to 12 in July 2024. Despite this reduction in count, the hit-and-run rate remained constant at 10.1% for both periods.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1200.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 3-33.3%

22

Motorists Injured

Prior: 44-50.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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 Tuesday in July 2023, which saw 31 crashes, to Monday in July 2024, with 27 crashes. The peak hour also changed, moving from 5 PM with 18 crashes in the prior period to 3 PM with 13 crashes in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There were no fatal crashes in either July 2023 or July 2024. Serious injuries decreased from 3 in the prior period to 1 in the current period. Possible injuries nearly halved from 11 to 5, while minor injuries remained stable at 16 in both periods.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.8%
-66.7%prior 3
Minor Injury16minor injury crashes13.4%
0.0%prior 16
Possible Injury5possible injury crashes4.2%
-54.5%prior 11
No Injury88no injury crashes73.9%
-17.8%prior 107

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to "Inattention" saw a substantial increase of 17, rising from 21 in July 2023 to 38 in July 2024. Conversely, crashes with "No improper driving" as a factor decreased by 17, from 27 to 10. "Followed too closely" also decreased by 5 crashes, from 19 to 14.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention38 (31.9%)81.0%prior 21
Followed too closely14 (11.8%)-26.3%prior 19
Failed to yield right of way11 (9.2%)0.0%prior 11
No improper driving10 (8.4%)-63.0%prior 27
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road9 (7.6%)
Made an improper turn5 (4.2%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (2.5%)
Visibility obstructed2 (1.7%)
Over-correcting/over-steering2 (1.7%)
Distracted2 (1.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions decreased slightly from 90 in July 2023 to 86 in July 2024. There was a notable reduction in crashes on "Wet" road surfaces, dropping from 23 in the prior period to 8 in the current period. Crashes during "Daylight" conditions decreased from 122 to 99, while "Dark - lighted roadway" crashes remained constant at 12.

Weather

Clear86 (72.3%)
-4.4%prior 90
Clear/Clear13 (10.9%)
-31.6%prior 19
Cloudy13 (10.9%)
85.7%prior 7
Rain5 (4.2%)
-50.0%prior 10
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (0.8%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight99 (83.2%)
-18.9%prior 122
Dark - lighted roadway12 (10.1%)
0.0%prior 12
Dusk4 (3.4%)
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (2.5%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry111 (93.3%)
-1.8%prior 113
Wet8 (6.7%)
-65.2%prior 23

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 250 in July 2023 to 221 in July 2024. Toyota remained the most frequently involved make, increasing from 37 to 41 vehicles. Honda involvement decreased from 34 to 30, and Ford decreased from 27 to 17.

Top Vehicle Makes (221 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA41 (18.6%)
10.8%prior 37
2
HONDA30 (13.6%)
-11.8%prior 34
3
FORD17 (7.7%)
-37.0%prior 27
4
BMW14 (6.3%)
133.3%prior 6
5
SUBARU13 (5.9%)
-18.8%prior 16
6
JEEP10 (4.5%)
42.9%prior 7
7
NISSAN10 (4.5%)
0.0%prior 10
8
CHEVROLET10 (4.5%)
0.0%prior 10
9
HYUNDAI9 (4.1%)
50.0%prior 6
10
MAZDA7 (3.2%)
-22.2%prior 9

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (242 persons with recorded sex)

Male132 (54.5%)
-14.8%prior 155
Female110 (45.5%)
-16.7%prior 132

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph speed zones decreased from 58 in July 2023 to 48 in July 2024. Similarly, crashes in 30 mph zones saw a reduction from 23 to 20, and 55 mph zones decreased from 29 to 21 crashes. No fatal crashes were reported in any speed limit zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31 · 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: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-07-01 through 2024-07-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NEWTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 119
  • Total persons involved: 266
  • Total vehicles involved: 221

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: July 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2024-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/newton/july-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

Newton, MA Crash Report — July 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com