Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

27 CRASHES IN
NORWELL, MA
MAY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2024

In May 2025, Norwell experienced 27 total crashes, an increase of 22.7% compared to the 22 crashes reported in May 2024. Despite this rise in total incidents, total injuries decreased by 40%, from 10 injuries in the prior period to 6 in the current period. A notable shift was the increase in crashes where driving too fast for conditions was a contributing factor, rising from 0 to 3.

27

22.7%was 22

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

6

-40.0%was 10

Persons Injured

1

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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend indicates a rise in total crash incidents, with 27 crashes in May 2025 compared to 22 in May 2024, representing a 22.7% increase. Conversely, total injuries decreased by 40%, from 10 in May 2024 to 6 in May 2025, suggesting a reduction in the severity of crashes despite the higher frequency.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2025

3.7% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

6

Motorists Injured

Prior: 8-25.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns show Friday remained the peak day for crashes in both periods, with 8 crashes in May 2025 and 7 in May 2024. The peak hour for crashes shifted from 4 PM in May 2024, which saw 4 crashes, to 3 PM in May 2025, also with 4 crashes.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at 0 in both May 2024 and May 2025. Total injuries decreased from 10 to 6 year-over-year. The proportion of minor injury crashes (severity code 'B') decreased from 27.3% of total crashes in May 2024 to 18.5% in May 2025, while serious injury crashes (severity code 'A') were present in May 2024 with 1 crash (4.5%) but not in May 2025.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury5minor injury crashes18.5%
-16.7%prior 6
No Injury21no injury crashes77.8%
50.0%prior 14

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The count of 'No improper driving' as a contributing factor increased from 7 in May 2024 to 10 in May 2025. 'Driving too fast for conditions' rose from 0 crashes in May 2024 to 3 crashes in May 2025. 'Distracted' crashes, which accounted for 4 incidents in May 2024, decreased to 2 'Inattention' crashes in May 2025, while 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' was a factor in 2 crashes in May 2024 but was not present in the top factors for May 2025.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving10 (37%)42.9%prior 7
Driving too fast for conditions3 (11.1%)
Inattention2 (7.4%)
Other improper action2 (7.4%)
Followed too closely1 (3.7%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (3.7%)
Visibility obstructed1 (3.7%)
Failed to yield right of way1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 20 in May 2024 to 13 in May 2025, while crashes in cloudy conditions increased from 1 to 6. Rain-related crashes, including 'Rain' and 'Rain/Rain', which were not present in May 2024, accounted for 4 crashes in May 2025. Crashes in daylight decreased from 21 to 19, and crashes in 'Dark - lighted roadway' increased from 1 to 3, with 4 crashes occurring in 'Dark - roadway not lighted' in May 2025, which was not present in May 2024.

Weather

Clear13 (48.1%)
-35.0%prior 20
Cloudy6 (22.2%)
Clear/Clear3 (11.1%)
Rain2 (7.4%)
Rain/Rain2 (7.4%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight19 (70.4%)
-9.5%prior 21
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (14.8%)
Dark - lighted roadway3 (11.1%)
Dusk1 (3.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry22 (81.5%)
Wet3 (11.1%)
Water (standing, moving)2 (7.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (43 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA9 (20.9%)
12.5%prior 8
2
JEEP6 (14%)
3
HONDA4 (9.3%)
4
NISSAN3 (7%)
5
GMC3 (7%)
6
VOLKSWAGEN2 (4.7%)
7
ACURA1 (2.3%)
8
KIA1 (2.3%)
9
LINC1 (2.3%)
10
MAZDA1 (2.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (56 persons with recorded sex)

Male31 (55.4%)
40.9%prior 22
Female25 (44.6%)
-7.4%prior 27

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph zones increased from 2 in May 2024 to 4 in May 2025, while crashes in 35 mph zones decreased significantly from 12 to 6. The 30 mph speed zone, which had no recorded crashes in May 2024, accounted for 7 crashes in May 2025. Fatal rates remained at 0 across all speed zones for both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · 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: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-05-01 through 2025-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: NORWELL, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 27
  • Total persons involved: 60
  • Total vehicles involved: 43

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: May 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/norwell/may-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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Norwell, MA Crash Report — May 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com