Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

304 CRASHES IN
NORTON, MA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In 2022, Norton recorded 304 total traffic crashes, a slight increase from the 298 crashes documented in 2021, representing a year-over-year rise of approximately 2%. The most significant change in the data was the reduction in traffic-related fatalities, which dropped from two in 2021 to zero in 2022. Conversely, hit-and-run crashes increased notably from 3 to 11 incidents.

304

2.0%was 298

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 2

Persons Killed

100

12.4%was 89

Persons Injured

11

266.7%was 3

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 · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, traffic collisions in Norton showed a slight upward trend year-over-year. The total number of crashes increased by 2%, from 298 in 2021 to 304 in 2022. Similarly, the number of persons injured in these incidents rose by 12.4%, from 89 in the prior year to 100 in the current year.

11

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022

266.7% vs prior (3)

Hit-and-run incidents increased substantially in 2022 compared to the previous year. The number of hit-and-run crashes rose from 3 in 2021 to 11 in 2022, representing a 267% increase in count. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, which is the percentage of total crashes that were hit-and-runs, also trended upward from 1.0% in 2021 to 3.6% in 2022.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-100.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 2-50.0%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

97

Motorists Injured

Prior: 8612.8%

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 remained largely consistent between 2021 and 2022. Wednesday was the peak day for crashes in both years, with 56 incidents in 2022 compared to 60 in 2021. The peak hour for collisions shifted slightly later in the day, moving from the 3 PM hour in 2021 (28 crashes) to the 4 PM hour in 2022 (27 crashes).

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

While total crashes saw a minor increase, the severity profile shifted significantly year-over-year. There were no fatal crashes in 2022, a decrease from the two fatal crashes recorded in 2021. However, the number of crashes resulting in serious injuries increased from 3 in 2021 to 8 in 2022, and minor injury crashes rose from 39 to 50. The proportion of crashes resulting in any injury remained stable at approximately 25% for both periods.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury8serious injury crashes2.6%
166.7%prior 3
Minor Injury50minor injury crashes16.4%
28.2%prior 39
Possible Injury19possible injury crashes6.3%
-42.4%prior 33
No Injury224no injury crashes73.7%
2.8%prior 218

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 factors for crashes saw some shifts between 2021 and 2022. 'Inattention' remained the top cited factor in both years, though its count decreased slightly from 77 to 74. The count for crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' decreased from 20 to 12, while crashes involving 'Failed to yield right of way' increased from 18 to 22 incidents.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving81 (26.6%)8.0%prior 75
Inattention74 (24.3%)-3.9%prior 77
Failed to yield right of way22 (7.2%)22.2%prior 18
Other improper action17 (5.6%)112.5%prior 8
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road13 (4.3%)18.2%prior 11
Followed too closely12 (3.9%)-40.0%prior 20
Fatigued/asleep10 (3.3%)25.0%prior 8
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner9 (3%)50.0%prior 6
Distracted8 (2.6%)60.0%prior 5
Driving too fast for conditions6 (2%)-14.3%prior 7

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 2022 occurred more frequently under adverse conditions compared to 2021. The proportion of collisions happening in dark conditions increased from 26.5% of all crashes in 2021 to 32.9% in 2022. Similarly, crashes on non-dry road surfaces like wet, snow, or ice accounted for 24.0% of incidents in 2022, up from 20.8% in the prior year, while crashes on dry roads remained the majority in both periods.

Weather

Clear222 (73.3%)
9.4%prior 203
Rain20 (6.6%)
17.6%prior 17
Cloudy14 (4.6%)
-41.7%prior 24
Snow12 (4.0%)
100.0%prior 6
Cloudy/Rain7 (2.3%)
-30.0%prior 10
Clear/Other6 (2.0%)
-40.0%prior 10
Clear/Unknown5 (1.7%)
0.0%prior 5
Rain/Cloudy3 (1.0%)
-40.0%prior 5
Rain/Other3 (1.0%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow2 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight189 (62.4%)
-8.3%prior 206
Dark - lighted roadway62 (20.5%)
12.7%prior 55
Dark - roadway not lighted33 (10.9%)
43.5%prior 23
Dusk8 (2.6%)
0.0%prior 8
Dawn6 (2.0%)
20.0%prior 5
Dark - unknown roadway lighting5 (1.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry230 (75.9%)
-2.1%prior 235
Wet46 (15.2%)
2.2%prior 45
Snow20 (6.6%)
66.7%prior 12
Ice5 (1.7%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel2 (0.7%)

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 vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Toyota (79 vehicles) and Ford (73 vehicles) leading in 2022, similar to 2021 where they also held the top two spots. Nissan (54 vehicles) became the third most common make in 2022, replacing Honda from the prior year's top three. Regarding the age of persons involved, there was a notable increase in the 16-20 age group (from 93 to 104 individuals) and the 55-64 age group (from 77 to 88 individuals).

Top Vehicle Makes (524 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA79 (15.1%)
6.8%prior 74
2
FORD73 (13.9%)
37.7%prior 53
3
NISSAN54 (10.3%)
42.1%prior 38
4
CHEVROLET44 (8.4%)
7.3%prior 41
5
HONDA37 (7.1%)
-17.8%prior 45
6
HYUNDAI27 (5.2%)
17.4%prior 23
7
JEEP24 (4.6%)
-17.2%prior 29
8
SUBARU17 (3.2%)
-22.7%prior 22
9
DODGE14 (2.7%)
-30.0%prior 20
10
GMC14 (2.7%)
-30.0%prior 20

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (617 persons with recorded sex)

Male332 (53.8%)
-5.7%prior 352
Female284 (46.0%)
5.2%prior 270
X / Unspecified1 (0.2%)

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

The distribution of crashes across different speed zones was largely stable year-over-year, with 30 mph and 40 mph zones being the location for the highest number of incidents in both 2021 and 2022. There was a notable increase in crashes within 65 mph zones, rising from 23 in 2021 to 35 in 2022. Significantly, there were no fatal crashes in any speed zone in 2022, compared to 2021 which saw one fatality each in a 30 mph and a 35 mph zone.

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: NORTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 304
  • Total persons involved: 655
  • Total vehicles involved: 524

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). "NORTON, 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/norton/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

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Norton, MA Crash Report — 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com