Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

113 CRASHES IN
NORFOLK, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In Norfolk, total traffic crashes increased by 7.6%, from 105 in 2024 to 113 in 2025. While fatalities remained at zero in both periods, the number of persons injured rose from 27 to 36. The most significant year-over-year change was in contributing factors, where crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' increased from 8 to 22 incidents.

113

7.6%was 105

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

36

33.3%was 27

Persons Injured

6

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 · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Norfolk are rising year-over-year. Total collisions increased by 7.6% from 105 to 113, and the number of individuals injured grew by 33.3% from 27 to 36. Fatalities were not a factor in either period, with zero recorded in both 2024 and 2025.

6

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

0.0% vs prior (6)

The frequency of hit-and-run incidents remained stable year-over-year. There were 6 hit-and-run crashes reported in 2025, the same number as in 2024. Due to an increase in the total number of crashes, the hit-and-run rate saw a marginal decrease from 5.7% in 2024 to 5.3% in 2025.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 10.0%

35

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2634.6%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2025, the peak day for crashes was Wednesday with 21 incidents, a change from 2024 when Friday was the peak day with 25 incidents. Similarly, the peak hour for collisions moved earlier, from the 4 p.m. and 7 a.m. hours in 2024 (10 crashes each) to the 2 p.m. hour in 2025 (12 crashes).

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity outcomes changed year-over-year, even as fatalities remained at zero. The number of crashes involving serious injuries decreased from 4 in 2024 to 1 in 2025. However, crashes resulting in possible injuries increased significantly, from 3 incidents (2.9% of total crashes) in 2024 to 11 incidents (9.7% of total crashes) in 2025. The number of minor injury crashes also rose from 15 to 18.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.9%
-75.0%prior 4
Minor Injury18minor injury crashes15.9%
20.0%prior 15
Possible Injury11possible injury crashes9.7%
266.7%prior 3
No Injury81no injury crashes71.7%
0.0%prior 81

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

A significant shift occurred in reported contributing factors. In 2025, 'Failed to yield right of way' became the leading factor, with its count increasing by 175% from 8 crashes in 2024 to 22 in 2025. This displaced the prior year's top factors, which included 'Disregarded traffic signs,' a category that saw its count decrease from 8 to 5. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased slightly from 8 to 9.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving32 (28.3%)-11.1%prior 36
Failed to yield right of way22 (19.5%)175.0%prior 8
Inattention9 (8%)12.5%prior 8
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road8 (7.1%)0.0%prior 8
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway6 (5.3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings5 (4.4%)-37.5%prior 8
Followed too closely5 (4.4%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit4 (3.5%)
Fatigued/asleep4 (3.5%)
Driving too fast for conditions3 (2.7%)-40.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions remained broadly similar, with most incidents in both years occurring in daylight and on dry roads. In 2025, a slightly higher proportion of crashes occurred on dry surfaces (74.3% vs. 69.5% in 2024). The number of crashes on wintry surfaces like snow or ice decreased from 13 in 2024 to 11 in 2025, while crashes in darkness on lighted roadways increased from 14 to 20 incidents.

Weather

Clear/Clear42 (37.2%)
5.0%prior 40
Clear27 (23.9%)
-10.0%prior 30
Clear/Cloudy15 (13.3%)
200.0%prior 5
Cloudy8 (7.1%)
Rain5 (4.4%)
Snow5 (4.4%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (1.8%)
Cloudy/Cloudy2 (1.8%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (0.9%)
Rain/Fog, smog, smoke1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight74 (65.5%)
-1.3%prior 75
Dark - lighted roadway20 (17.7%)
42.9%prior 14
Dark - roadway not lighted10 (8.8%)
-16.7%prior 12
Dawn6 (5.3%)
Dusk2 (1.8%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry84 (75.7%)
15.1%prior 73
Wet16 (14.4%)
-5.9%prior 17
Snow5 (4.5%)
-50.0%prior 10
Ice4 (3.6%)
Slush2 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The demographics of vehicles and persons involved in crashes showed notable changes. Toyota (31 vehicles) surpassed Ford (20 vehicles) as the most frequently involved vehicle make in 2025, reversing the 2024 ranking where Ford led with 29 vehicles. A significant demographic shift was observed in the age of persons involved; the 0-15 age group grew from 10 individuals in 2024 to 74 in 2025, coinciding with an increase in passengers from 37 to 98.

Top Vehicle Makes (179 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA31 (17.3%)
19.2%prior 26
2
FORD20 (11.2%)
-31.0%prior 29
3
SUBARU15 (8.4%)
200.0%prior 5
4
CHEVROLET14 (7.8%)
40.0%prior 10
5
HONDA10 (5.6%)
-37.5%prior 16
6
JEEP10 (5.6%)
25.0%prior 8
7
HYUNDAI9 (5%)
8
RAM7 (3.9%)
9
GMC7 (3.9%)
10
NISSAN6 (3.4%)
-14.3%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (268 persons with recorded sex)

Male140 (52.2%)
19.7%prior 117
Female127 (47.4%)
84.1%prior 69
X / Unspecified1 (0.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted between the two years. Crashes in 35 mph zones increased from 46 in 2024 to 58 in 2025, making it the dominant zone for incidents. In contrast, collisions in 30 mph zones decreased from 35 to 26. There were no fatal crashes recorded in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: NORFOLK, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 113
  • Total persons involved: 278
  • Total vehicles involved: 179

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). "NORFOLK, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/norfolk/2025-annual-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

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Norfolk, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com