Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

16 CRASHES IN
NORTH READING, MA
AUGUST 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2022

Total crashes remained stable at 16 in August 2023, matching the 16 crashes reported in August 2022. The most notable year-over-year shift was the absence of fatalities in August 2023, compared to one fatality in the prior year. Additionally, total injuries decreased substantially from 9 in August 2022 to 1 in August 2023.

16

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

1

-88.9%was 9

Persons Injured

0

-100.0%was 1

Fatal Crash Events

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash numbers remained stable year-over-year, with 16 crashes reported in both August 2023 and August 2022. However, there was a significant positive trend in safety outcomes, as total fatalities decreased by 100% from 1 to 0, and total injuries decreased by 88.9% from 9 to 1.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

1

Motorists Injured

Prior: 9-88.9%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The distribution of crashes across the week shifted, with Wednesday becoming the peak day in August 2023 with 5 crashes, up from 2 crashes on Wednesdays in August 2022. The peak hour for crashes also changed from 9 p.m. with 2 crashes in August 2022 to 5 p.m. with 4 crashes in August 2023. Crashes occurring on Saturdays decreased from 3 in August 2022 to 0 in August 2023.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities decreased by 100% year-over-year, with 0 fatalities in August 2023 compared to 1 fatality in August 2022. The number of injured persons also saw a substantial decrease of 88.9%, falling from 9 injuries in August 2022 to 1 injury in August 2023. Consequently, the proportion of crashes with any injury decreased significantly, with only 1 minor injury crash (6.3% of total crashes) in August 2023 compared to 8 crashes involving minor, possible, or fatal injuries (50% of total crashes) in August 2022.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes6.3%
-80.0%prior 5
No Injury15no injury crashes93.8%
87.5%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

"Failed to yield right of way" remained a leading contributing factor, increasing by 1 crash from 5 in August 2022 to 6 in August 2023, with its share rising from 31.3% to 37.5%. The factor "No improper driving" remained consistent with 3 crashes in both periods. "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner," which accounted for 4 crashes in August 2022, was not among the top factors in August 2023, while "Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road" emerged with 3 crashes in August 2023.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failed to yield right of way6 (37.5%)20.0%prior 5
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road3 (18.8%)
No improper driving3 (18.8%)
Inattention2 (12.5%)
Followed too closely1 (6.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions decreased from 13 in August 2022 to 10 in August 2023, while crashes in "Cloudy" conditions increased from 1 to 3. The number of crashes on "Dry" road surfaces saw a slight increase from 13 to 14, and crashes on "Wet" road surfaces decreased from 3 to 2.

Weather

Clear10 (62.5%)
-23.1%prior 13
Cloudy3 (18.8%)
Clear/Unknown2 (12.5%)
Rain1 (6.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Road Surface

Dry14 (87.5%)
7.7%prior 13
Wet2 (12.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (32 vehicles)

1
FORD6 (18.8%)
20.0%prior 5
2
HONDA5 (15.6%)
3
NISSAN4 (12.5%)
4
JEEP4 (12.5%)
5
CHEVROLET3 (9.4%)
6
KIA2 (6.3%)
7
TESL1 (3.1%)
8
ACURA1 (3.1%)
9
TOYOTA1 (3.1%)
10
CHRYSLER1 (3.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (43 persons with recorded sex)

Male27 (62.8%)
28.6%prior 21
Female16 (37.2%)
0.0%prior 16

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone decreased from 3 to 1, while those in the 30 mph zone saw a minor reduction from 8 to 7 crashes. Notably, the 30 mph zone, which had 1 fatal crash in August 2022, reported 0 fatal crashes in August 2023. Conversely, crashes in the 35 mph speed zone increased from 1 to 3, and those in the 40 mph speed zone increased from 3 to 5.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NORTH READING, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 16
  • Total persons involved: 44
  • Total vehicles involved: 32

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). "NORTH READING, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/north-reading/august-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

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North Reading, MA Crash Report — August 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com