Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

27 CRASHES IN
NORTON, MA
AUGUST 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2024

In August 2025, NORTON recorded 27 total crashes, a decrease of 3.6% from the 28 crashes reported in August 2024. A notable shift includes a 50% increase in hit-and-run crashes, rising from 2 in the prior year to 3 in the current period.

27

-3.6%was 28

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

9

-18.2%was 11

Persons Injured

3

50.0%was 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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, NORTON experienced a slight decrease in total crashes year-over-year, with 27 crashes in August 2025 compared to 28 in August 2024, representing a 3.6% reduction. Total injuries also declined by 18.2%, from 11 in August 2024 to 9 in August 2025, while fatalities remained at 0 in both periods.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2025

50.0% vs prior (2)

Hit-and-run crashes increased by 50% year-over-year, rising from 2 crashes in August 2024 to 3 crashes in August 2025. This also led to an increase in the hit-and-run rate, which went from 7.1% of all crashes in the prior period to 11.1% in the current period, indicating an upward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 0%

7

Motorists Injured

Prior: 11-36.4%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · 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 Friday with 8 crashes in August 2024 to Thursday with 7 crashes in August 2025. The peak hour also changed significantly, moving from 5 PM with 5 crashes in August 2024 to 12 PM with 5 crashes in August 2025. This indicates a shift in high-frequency crash times from late afternoon to midday.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crash rates remained at 0% for both August 2024 and August 2025, with no fatal crashes reported in either period. However, serious injury crashes increased from 1 (3.6% of crashes) in August 2024 to 2 (7.4% of crashes) in August 2025. Conversely, minor injury crashes decreased from 5 (17.9% of crashes) to 4 (14.8% of crashes) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes7.4%
100.0%prior 1
Minor Injury4minor injury crashes14.8%
-20.0%prior 5
Possible Injury3possible injury crashes11.1%
0.0%prior 3
No Injury18no injury crashes66.7%
-5.3%prior 19

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor shifted from 'No improper driving' in August 2024, which accounted for 10 crashes, to 'Inattention' in August 2025, which accounted for 7 crashes. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased by 40%, from 5 in the prior year to 7 in the current year, while 'No improper driving' decreased by 40%, from 10 to 6 crashes. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes also decreased by 40%, from 5 to 3.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention7 (25.9%)40.0%prior 5
No improper driving6 (22.2%)-40.0%prior 10
Followed too closely3 (11.1%)
Failed to yield right of way3 (11.1%)-40.0%prior 5
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (7.4%)
Made an improper turn1 (3.7%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (3.7%)
Visibility obstructed1 (3.7%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring under clear weather conditions increased from 24 in August 2024 to 25 in August 2025, representing 85.7% and 92.6% of total crashes respectively. Conversely, crashes on wet road surfaces decreased from 5 (17.9% of crashes) in the prior period to 3 (11.1% of crashes) in the current period. Crashes in dark conditions also saw a decrease, falling from 8 to 6 year-over-year.

Weather

Clear21 (77.8%)
-12.5%prior 24
Clear/Clear2 (7.4%)
Clear/Other1 (3.7%)
Clear/Unknown1 (3.7%)
Cloudy1 (3.7%)
Rain1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight19 (70.4%)
0.0%prior 19
Dark - lighted roadway3 (11.1%)
-57.1%prior 7
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (11.1%)
Dawn1 (3.7%)
Dusk1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry24 (88.9%)
4.3%prior 23
Wet3 (11.1%)
-40.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (47 vehicles)

1
HONDA7 (14.9%)
-30.0%prior 10
2
FORD6 (12.8%)
-25.0%prior 8
3
NISSAN6 (12.8%)
4
TOYOTA5 (10.6%)
5
DODGE3 (6.4%)
6
JEEP3 (6.4%)
7
SUBARU3 (6.4%)
8
BMW2 (4.3%)
9
VOLKSWAGEN1 (2.1%)
10
CHEVROLET1 (2.1%)
-80.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (56 persons with recorded sex)

Male32 (57.1%)
-8.6%prior 35
Female24 (42.9%)
-22.6%prior 31

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Fatal crash rates remained at 0 in all reported speed zones for both August 2024 and August 2025. Crashes in the 30 mph speed zone increased from 9 in the prior year to 10 in the current year, while crashes in the 40 mph zone decreased significantly from 12 to 8. The 25 mph zone recorded 1 crash in August 2025, which had no crashes in the prior period, and the 45 mph zone, which had 1 crash in August 2024, had none in August 2025.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · 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: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-08-01 through 2025-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NORTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 27
  • Total persons involved: 63
  • Total vehicles involved: 47

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: August 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/norton/august-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

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Norton, MA Crash Report — August 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com