Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

291 CRASHES IN
NORWELL, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In 2025, Norwell recorded 291 traffic crashes, an increase of 13.2% from the 257 crashes reported in 2024. While total crashes rose, the number of fatalities dropped from one in the prior year to zero in the current year. Concurrently, total injuries decreased by 16%, from 100 in 2024 to 84 in 2025.

291

13.2%was 257

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 1

Persons Killed

84

-16.0%was 100

Persons Injured

7

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

The overall trend in traffic collisions shows an increase year-over-year, with total crashes rising by 13.2% from 257 in 2024 to 291 in 2025. Despite the rise in crash volume, the number of resulting injuries saw a 16% decrease from 100 to 84. Additionally, traffic fatalities fell from one in the prior year to zero in the current year.

7

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

0.0% vs prior (7)

The total number of hit-and-run crashes remained stable year-over-year, with 7 incidents reported in both 2025 and 2024. As a proportion of all crashes, the hit-and-run rate decreased slightly due to the higher total crash volume in the current period. These incidents accounted for 2.4% of total crashes in 2025, down from 2.7% in 2024.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 3-66.7%

83

Motorists Injured

Prior: 95-12.6%

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

Temporal crash patterns shifted between the two periods. The day with the most crashes changed from Tuesday (44 crashes) in 2024 to Friday (49 crashes) in 2025. The peak hour for collisions also moved from late morning at 11 a.m. (24 crashes) in the prior year to the afternoon commute hour of 4 p.m. (28 crashes) in the current year.

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

Crash severity decreased year-over-year, with zero fatal crashes recorded in 2025 compared to one in 2024. The proportion of crashes resulting in any level of injury also declined, from 27.6% of all incidents in the prior year to 22.3% in the current year. This was driven by a drop in the share of minor injury crashes from 20.2% to 15.8% and a slight decrease in the share of serious injury crashes from 1.6% to 1%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury3serious injury crashes1%
-25.0%prior 4
Minor Injury46minor injury crashes15.8%
-11.5%prior 52
Possible Injury16possible injury crashes5.5%
6.7%prior 15
No Injury223no injury crashes76.6%
23.2%prior 181

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 leading contributing factor in both years was 'No improper driving,' with counts rising from 93 to 99. 'Inattention' became the second most-cited factor in 2025, with its count increasing from 18 to 21 incidents, while 'Followed too closely' dropped from 22 to 19 incidents. Crashes attributed to 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' nearly doubled, increasing from 9 incidents in 2024 to 17 in 2025.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving99 (34%)6.5%prior 93
Inattention21 (7.2%)16.7%prior 18
Followed too closely19 (6.5%)-13.6%prior 22
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road17 (5.8%)88.9%prior 9
Failed to yield right of way15 (5.2%)66.7%prior 9
Distracted8 (2.7%)-33.3%prior 12
Fatigued/asleep8 (2.7%)
Driving too fast for conditions8 (2.7%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner7 (2.4%)-50.0%prior 14
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway6 (2.1%)

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

Crashes on dry road surfaces remained the majority in both periods, accounting for 80.4% of incidents in 2025 compared to 82.5% in 2024. Crashes occurring during daylight hours decreased as a proportion of the total, from 69.3% to 64.6%, while collisions in dark but lighted roadway conditions increased in count from 28 to 44. Incidents on snowy roads also saw an increase, rising from 8 crashes in the prior year to 15 in the current year.

Weather

Clear182 (62.5%)
-2.7%prior 187
Clear/Clear38 (13.1%)
192.3%prior 13
Cloudy20 (6.9%)
25.0%prior 16
Rain12 (4.1%)
20.0%prior 10
Snow8 (2.7%)
33.3%prior 6
Cloudy/Rain7 (2.4%)
16.7%prior 6
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)/Snow3 (1.0%)
Clear/Cloudy3 (1.0%)
Rain/Fog, smog, smoke2 (0.7%)
Rain/Rain2 (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

Daylight188 (64.6%)
5.6%prior 178
Dark - lighted roadway44 (15.1%)
57.1%prior 28
Dark - roadway not lighted38 (13.1%)
15.2%prior 33
Dusk13 (4.5%)
44.4%prior 9
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (1.4%)
-42.9%prior 7
Dawn4 (1.4%)

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

Road Surface

Dry234 (80.4%)
10.4%prior 212
Wet33 (11.3%)
0.0%prior 33
Snow15 (5.2%)
87.5%prior 8
Ice4 (1.4%)
Slush2 (0.7%)
Water (standing, moving)2 (0.7%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.3%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes shifted year-over-year. While Toyota remained the most frequent make with its count increasing from 70 to 73 vehicles, Honda moved into the second position with 49 vehicles, up from 30 in the prior year. The demographics of persons involved in crashes also changed, with the 26-34 age group increasing from 75 to 106 individuals to become the most represented group. The 65+ age group, which was the largest in the prior year with 89 individuals, decreased to 84.

Top Vehicle Makes (490 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA73 (14.9%)
4.3%prior 70
2
HONDA49 (10%)
63.3%prior 30
3
FORD43 (8.8%)
-4.4%prior 45
4
CHEVROLET41 (8.4%)
-12.8%prior 47
5
JEEP40 (8.2%)
8.1%prior 37
6
NISSAN28 (5.7%)
12.0%prior 25
7
GMC19 (3.9%)
90.0%prior 10
8
VOLKSWAGEN18 (3.7%)
28.6%prior 14
9
HYUNDAI16 (3.3%)
33.3%prior 12
10
BMW15 (3.1%)
7.1%prior 14

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

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

Sex Distribution (556 persons with recorded sex)

Male309 (55.6%)
4.0%prior 297
Female247 (44.4%)
5.6%prior 234

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 were most prevalent in 35 mph zones in both years, though the count slightly decreased from 77 to 74. There was a notable increase in crashes within 30 mph zones, which rose from 35 incidents in 2024 to 48 in 2025. The single fatal crash in the prior year occurred in a 45 mph speed zone; no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone in the current year.

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: NORWELL, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 291
  • Total persons involved: 590
  • Total vehicles involved: 490

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). "NORWELL, 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/norwell/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

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Norwell, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com