ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · NORTHBOROUGH, MA · 2022
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/northborough/2022-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
258 CRASHES IN
NORTHBOROUGH, MA
2022
In 2022, Northborough recorded 258 total traffic crashes, a 4.8% decrease from the 271 crashes reported in 2021. While total collisions declined, the number of persons injured rose from 81 to 85. One of the most notable year-over-year shifts was in the timing of collisions, with the peak hour for crashes moving from 12 p.m. in 2021 to the 5 p.m. evening commute hour in 2022.
258
▼ -4.8%was 271
Total Crash Events
1
Persons Killed
85
▲ 4.9%was 81
Persons Injured
19
▼ -17.4%was 23
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 6 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, traffic crashes in Northborough saw a modest year-over-year decline, falling by 4.8% from 271 in 2021 to 258 in 2022. However, the number of people injured in these incidents increased by 4.9%, from 81 to 85. The number of fatalities remained unchanged, with one person killed in each period.
19
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022
▼ -17.4% vs prior (23)
The occurrence of hit-and-run incidents decreased from 2021 to 2022. The total count of hit-and-run crashes fell from 23 to 19. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate, representing the percentage of all crashes that were hit-and-runs, declined from 8.5% in 2021 to 7.4% in 2022.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
1
Motorists Killed
85
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes showed a significant shift between the two years. While Thursday remained the peak day for crashes in both 2022 (45 crashes) and 2021 (44 crashes), the peak hour changed markedly. In 2022, the most crashes occurred during the 5 p.m. hour (28 crashes), whereas in 2021, the peak was at 12 p.m. (20 crashes), indicating a shift from midday to the evening commute.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The severity of crashes remained relatively stable, with one fatal crash recorded in both 2022 and 2021. The fatal crash rate saw a marginal increase from 0.37 to 0.39 per 100 crashes. The total number of injury-resulting crashes was identical at 60 for both years, but the composition changed: minor injury crashes increased from 29 to 36, while serious injury crashes fell from 3 to 2.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factor in both periods was 'Failed to yield right of way,' with its count increasing by 11% from 46 crashes in 2021 to 51 in 2022. Conversely, crashes attributed to 'Inattention' saw a significant 63% decrease in count, falling from 30 incidents in 2021 to 11 in 2022. 'Failure to keep in proper lane' dropped from the second-ranked factor in 2021 (37 crashes) to the third in 2022 (31 crashes).
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes in both years predominantly occurred in clear weather and on dry roads. In 2022, 74% of crashes were in clear weather, compared to 77% in 2021. Collisions on dry road surfaces accounted for 78% of crashes in 2022, down slightly from 80% in 2021. There was a slight increase in crashes occurring in snowy conditions, which rose from 9 incidents in 2021 to 13 in 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Honda, and Ford—were identical in both 2022 and 2021, though Toyota and Honda saw slight decreases in their involvement counts. Analysis of persons involved in crashes shows a notable increase in the 65+ age group, which grew from 51 individuals in 2021 to 61 in 2022. Meanwhile, the 16-20 age group saw a decrease in involvement from 75 individuals to 68.
Top Vehicle Makes (450 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
25 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (541 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 65 in 2021 to 51 in 2022, while collisions in 65 mph zones remained stable with 51 crashes in 2022 compared to 50 in the prior year. The single fatal crash in 2022 occurred in a 30 mph zone. This is a shift from 2021, when the year's lone fatal crash happened in a 50 mph zone.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 51 (1.961%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: NORTHBOROUGH, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 258
- Total persons involved: 569
- Total vehicles involved: 450
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). "NORTHBOROUGH, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/northborough/2022-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2022-01-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved