Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

40 CRASHES IN
NORTHAMPTON, MA
MAY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2024

NORTHAMPTON, MA experienced a decrease in total crashes in May 2025 compared to May 2024, with crashes falling from 46 to 40, representing a 13.04% reduction. The most notable year-over-year shift was the increase in crashes attributed to 'Inattention,' which more than doubled in count.

40

-13.0%was 46

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

14

-6.7%was 15

Persons Injured

1

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in NORTHAMPTON, MA showed a downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing from 46 in May 2024 to 40 in May 2025, a 13.04% reduction. Similarly, the total number of injured persons slightly decreased from 15 to 14.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2025

0.0% vs prior (1)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained constant at 1 in both May 2024 and May 2025. Due to a decrease in total crashes, the hit-and-run rate slightly increased from 2.2% in May 2024 to 2.5% in May 2025.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 20.0%

12

Motorists Injured

Prior: 119.1%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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 with 12 crashes in May 2024 to both Thursday and Friday with 8 crashes each in May 2025. While 3 PM remained a peak hour for crashes in both periods, the number of crashes at this hour decreased from 6 to 5.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at 0 in both May 2024 and May 2025. The number of crashes resulting in serious injury increased from 0 in May 2024 to 1 in May 2025. The total number of injured persons slightly decreased from 15 to 14 year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes2.5%
Minor Injury9minor injury crashes22.5%
-10.0%prior 10
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes5%
100.0%prior 1
No Injury28no injury crashes70%
-20.0%prior 35

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased significantly from 6 in May 2024 to 15 in May 2025, a 150% increase, becoming the top contributing factor with a 37.5% share. Conversely, crashes due to 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased sharply from 13 to 3, a 76.9% decrease, dropping in rank. 'No improper driving' crashes also decreased by 50%, from 10 to 5.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention15 (37.5%)150.0%prior 6
No improper driving5 (12.5%)-50.0%prior 10
Followed too closely4 (10%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (7.5%)-76.9%prior 13
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (5%)
Physical impairment1 (2.5%)
Visibility obstructed1 (2.5%)
Made an improper turn1 (2.5%)
History heart/epilepsy/fainting1 (2.5%)
Illness1 (2.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The proportion of crashes occurring on wet road surfaces increased significantly from 4 crashes (8.7% of total) in May 2024 to 12 crashes (30% of total) in May 2025. Correspondingly, crashes during rainy weather increased from 2 to 7. Crashes occurring during daylight hours decreased from 41 to 32, while crashes in dark conditions (lighted and unlighted) remained relatively stable.

Weather

Clear17 (42.5%)
-41.4%prior 29
Cloudy9 (22.5%)
Rain7 (17.5%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (5.0%)
Rain/Clear1 (2.5%)
Rain/Unknown1 (2.5%)
Clear/Clear1 (2.5%)
Cloudy/Clear1 (2.5%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (2.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight32 (80.0%)
-22.0%prior 41
Dark - lighted roadway3 (7.5%)
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (5.0%)
Dusk2 (5.0%)
Dawn1 (2.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry28 (70.0%)
-33.3%prior 42
Wet12 (30.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 107 in May 2024 to 72 in May 2025. There was a notable decrease in persons involved in crashes across most age groups, particularly for 35-44 year olds (from 33 to 15) and 65+ year olds (from 21 to 10). Toyota and Honda remained the top two vehicle makes involved in crashes, though their counts decreased from 17 to 11 and 15 to 10 respectively.

Top Vehicle Makes (72 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA11 (15.3%)
-35.3%prior 17
2
HONDA10 (13.9%)
-33.3%prior 15
3
FORD7 (9.7%)
-22.2%prior 9
4
SUBARU7 (9.7%)
-12.5%prior 8
5
NISSAN5 (6.9%)
6
HYUNDAI4 (5.6%)
-42.9%prior 7
7
DODGE3 (4.2%)
8
VOLKSWAGEN2 (2.8%)
9
GMC2 (2.8%)
10
KIA2 (2.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (85 persons with recorded sex)

Male52 (61.2%)
-20.0%prior 65
Female33 (38.8%)
-49.2%prior 65

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph zones decreased from 23 in May 2024 to 14 in May 2025, and in 30 mph zones from 10 to 6. Conversely, crashes in 35 mph zones doubled from 7 to 14 year-over-year. Fatal crashes remained at 0 in all speed zones for both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NORTHAMPTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 40
  • Total persons involved: 89
  • Total vehicles involved: 72

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). "NORTHAMPTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: May 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/northampton/may-2025-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

Northampton, MA Crash Report — May 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com