Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

281 CRASHES IN
NORTHBOROUGH, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In 2025, Northborough recorded 281 traffic crashes, an 8.5% decrease from the 307 crashes documented in 2024. Total injuries also declined by 21.9% from 82 to 64, while fatalities remained at zero for both years. The most notable year-over-year shift was in hit-and-run incidents, where the count fell by 58.6% from 29 in 2024 to 12 in 2025.

281

-8.5%was 307

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

64

-22.0%was 82

Persons Injured

12

-58.6%was 29

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. 3 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 traffic safety trends in Northborough showed a positive direction from 2024 to 2025. Total crashes decreased by 8.5% from 307 to 281. The number of persons injured in these incidents also saw a significant decline of 21.9%, falling from 82 to 64, while fatalities were zero in both periods.

12

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

-58.6% vs prior (29)

The number of hit-and-run crashes in Northborough saw a substantial year-over-year decrease. In 2025, there were 12 hit-and-run incidents, a 58.6% drop from the 29 incidents recorded in 2024. This trend is also reflected in the hit-and-run rate as a percentage of all crashes, which fell from 9.4% in 2024 to 4.3% in 2025.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 10.0%

63

Motorists Injured

Prior: 81-22.2%

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 temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Tuesday (53 incidents) in 2024 to Thursday (50 incidents) in 2025. The peak hour for collisions, however, remained consistent at 4 p.m. in both years, accounting for 36 crashes in 2024 and 33 in 2025.

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

While there were no fatal crashes in either 2024 or 2025, the severity distribution of non-fatal crashes changed. In 2025, there were 4 crashes classified with 'Serious Injury,' which was an increase from zero such crashes in the prior year. Conversely, the number of crashes resulting in 'Minor Injury' decreased from 37 in 2024 to 26 in 2025, and 'Possible Injury' crashes fell from 24 to 20.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury4serious injury crashes1.4%
Minor Injury26minor injury crashes9.3%
-29.7%prior 37
Possible Injury20possible injury crashes7.1%
-16.7%prior 24
No Injury228no injury crashes81.1%
-5.8%prior 242

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

The ranking of top contributing factors for crashes shifted from 2024 to 2025. 'Failed to yield right of way' became the most common factor in 2025 with 54 incidents, an increase in count of 10.2% from 49 incidents in 2024. The previous year's top factor, 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road,' saw its crash count decrease by 30.4% from 56 to 39. The count of crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' also grew by 25%, from 32 to 40.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failed to yield right of way54 (19.2%)10.2%prior 49
Followed too closely40 (14.2%)25.0%prior 32
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road39 (13.9%)-30.4%prior 56
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings36 (12.8%)33.3%prior 27
No improper driving27 (9.6%)-12.9%prior 31
Driving too fast for conditions21 (7.5%)-16.0%prior 25
Inattention12 (4.3%)-40.0%prior 20
Exceeded authorized speed limit7 (2.5%)
Other improper action6 (2.1%)-45.5%prior 11
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner5 (1.8%)-61.5%prior 13

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

In both periods, the majority of crashes occurred in clear weather and on dry roads. The proportion of crashes happening during daylight hours increased in 2025, accounting for 76.2% of all incidents compared to 65.5% in 2024. Correspondingly, crashes in dark conditions (both lighted and unlighted roadways) decreased as a share of the total, representing 20.3% of crashes in 2025 versus 29.0% in the prior year.

Weather

Clear/Clear126 (44.8%)
11.5%prior 113
Clear93 (33.1%)
-23.1%prior 121
Snow9 (3.2%)
-25.0%prior 12
Rain9 (3.2%)
-43.8%prior 16
Cloudy9 (3.2%)
-35.7%prior 14
Cloudy/Rain8 (2.8%)
Cloudy/Cloudy7 (2.5%)
40.0%prior 5
Rain/Rain7 (2.5%)
-30.0%prior 10
Snow/Snow2 (0.7%)
-71.4%prior 7
Rain/Cloudy2 (0.7%)

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

Lighting

Daylight214 (76.2%)
6.5%prior 201
Dark - lighted roadway40 (14.2%)
-31.0%prior 58
Dark - roadway not lighted17 (6.0%)
-45.2%prior 31
Dusk6 (2.1%)
-25.0%prior 8
Dawn4 (1.4%)
-42.9%prior 7

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

Road Surface

Dry216 (76.9%)
-10.7%prior 242
Wet42 (14.9%)
7.7%prior 39
Snow10 (3.6%)
-28.6%prior 14
Ice6 (2.1%)
-25.0%prior 8
Slush6 (2.1%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.4%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The makes of vehicles involved in crashes remained consistent, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford being the top three in both 2024 and 2025. Analysis of persons involved shows that while the total number decreased from 711 to 610, the proportion of individuals in the 16-25 age range increased slightly from 22.5% of all persons in 2024 to 25.2% in 2025. The total number of vehicles in crashes decreased from 523 to 488.

Top Vehicle Makes (488 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA85 (17.4%)
-2.3%prior 87
2
HONDA64 (13.1%)
1.6%prior 63
3
FORD49 (10%)
-25.8%prior 66
4
SUBARU32 (6.6%)
28.0%prior 25
5
NISSAN25 (5.1%)
-26.5%prior 34
6
CHEVROLET25 (5.1%)
-19.4%prior 31
7
HYUNDAI18 (3.7%)
-5.3%prior 19
8
JEEP16 (3.3%)
-30.4%prior 23
9
LEXUS14 (2.9%)
40.0%prior 10
10
VOLKSWAGEN12 (2.5%)
100.0%prior 6

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

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

Sex Distribution (589 persons with recorded sex)

Male353 (59.9%)
-8.1%prior 384
Female236 (40.1%)
-16.0%prior 281

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

Crashes decreased across most speed zones from 2024 to 2025. The most notable reduction occurred in zones with posted speed limits of 30 mph or less, which saw 114 crashes in 2025 compared to 134 in the prior year. Crashes in high-speed zones of 55 mph or greater also declined from 51 to 44. No fatal crashes were 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: NORTHBOROUGH, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 281
  • Total persons involved: 610
  • Total vehicles involved: 488

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: 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/northborough/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

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Northborough, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com