Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

14 CRASHES IN
NORTH READING, MA
AUGUST 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2023

Total crashes in NORTH READING for August decreased by 12.5% year-over-year, from 16 in August 2023 to 14 in August 2024. The most significant change was an eight-fold increase in total injuries, rising from 1 to 8. Additionally, DUI-related crashes and hit-and-run crashes both appeared in the current period, with 2 crashes each, where none were reported in the prior period.

14

-12.5%was 16

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

8

700.0%was 1

Persons Injured

2

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend for crashes in NORTH READING shows a slight decrease year-over-year, with total crashes falling from 16 in August 2023 to 14 in August 2024. This represents a 12.5% reduction in the total number of crash events.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2024

14.3% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

8

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1700.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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 Wednesday in August 2023, which saw 5 crashes, to Saturday in August 2024, with 4 crashes. Notably, Saturday crashes increased from 0 in the prior period to 4 in the current period. The peak hour for crashes remained 5 p.m. in both periods, though the count decreased from 4 crashes to 3 crashes.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at zero in both August 2023 and August 2024. However, total injuries increased significantly from 1 in the prior period to 8 in the current period. This led to a notable rise in the proportion of crashes with injuries, including the appearance of 1 serious injury crash (7.1% of crashes) in August 2024, where none were reported previously.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes7.1%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes14.3%
100.0%prior 1
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes7.1%
No Injury9no injury crashes64.3%
-40.0%prior 15

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased from 6 in August 2023 to 4 in August 2024. Conversely, crashes with 'No improper driving' as a factor increased from 3 to 5 crashes year-over-year. The factor 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road,' which accounted for 3 crashes in the prior period, was not a factor in any crashes in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving5 (35.7%)
Failed to yield right of way4 (28.6%)-33.3%prior 6
Inattention1 (7.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner1 (7.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased slightly from 10 in August 2023 to 11 in August 2024, while cloudy conditions saw a decrease from 3 crashes to 1. The number of crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 14 to 13, and on wet road surfaces from 2 to 1. Lighting conditions cannot be compared due to missing data for the prior period.

Weather

Clear11 (78.6%)
10.0%prior 10
Clear/Unknown1 (7.1%)
Cloudy1 (7.1%)
Rain1 (7.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight11 (84.6%)
Dark - lighted roadway2 (15.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry13 (92.9%)
-7.1%prior 14
Wet1 (7.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (26 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA6 (23.1%)
2
NISSAN2 (7.7%)
3
JEEP2 (7.7%)
4
HONDA2 (7.7%)
-60.0%prior 5
5
HD1 (3.8%)
6
HYUNDAI1 (3.8%)
7
KIA1 (3.8%)
8
LEXUS1 (3.8%)
9
MERCEDES-BENZ1 (3.8%)
10
RAM1 (3.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (32 persons with recorded sex)

Male24 (75.0%)
-11.1%prior 27
Female8 (25.0%)
-50.0%prior 16

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 30 mph speed zones remained constant at 7 in both periods. However, crashes in 40 mph zones decreased from 5 in August 2023 to 2 in August 2024. Additionally, the current period saw 3 crashes in 5 mph zones and 2 crashes in 10 mph zones, which were not reported in the prior period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NORTH READING, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 14
  • Total persons involved: 38
  • Total vehicles involved: 26

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 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/north-reading/august-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

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North Reading, MA Crash Report — August 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com