Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

94 CRASHES IN
ORLEANS, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In Orleans, MA, total traffic crashes increased by 4.4%, from 90 incidents in 2024 to 94 in 2025. While the overall number of crashes rose slightly, the total number of injuries decreased. The most significant year-over-year change was the recording of one fatality in 2025, compared to zero in the prior year.

94

4.4%was 90

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

37

-15.9%was 44

Persons Injured

0

-100.0%was 1

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (1) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (1) 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 · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year data indicates a slight rise in total crashes, which increased from 90 to 94. However, the number of people injured in these incidents decreased by 15.9%, from 44 to 37. The most serious trend was an increase in fatalities, with one death recorded in 2025 compared to none in 2024.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

37

Motorists Injured

Prior: 38-2.6%

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

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (21 crashes) in the prior year to Wednesday (19 crashes) in the current year. Similarly, the peak hour for incidents changed from the morning at 10 a.m. (11 crashes) to the evening commute hour of 5 p.m. (11 crashes).

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 worsened with the occurrence of one fatal crash in 2025, up from zero in 2024. Despite this, the overall proportion of crashes resulting in any form of injury decreased from 34.4% (31 crashes) to 27.7% (26 crashes). Consequently, the share of crashes with no reported injuries increased from 65.6% of all incidents in the prior year to 71.3% in the current year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes1.1%
Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.1%
-66.7%prior 3
Minor Injury17minor injury crashes18.1%
-15.0%prior 20
Possible Injury8possible injury crashes8.5%
0.0%prior 8
No Injury67no injury crashes71.3%
13.6%prior 59

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 primary contributing factor for crashes shifted year-over-year. In 2024, "Inattention" was the leading factor with 21 crashes, but its count dropped by 42.9% to 12 crashes in 2025. In 2025, "Failed to yield right of way" became the top factor, with its crash count increasing by 21.1% from 19 to 23 incidents. The count of crashes where "No improper driving" was cited increased from 11 to 21.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Failed to yield right of way23 (24.5%)21.1%prior 19
No improper driving21 (22.3%)90.9%prior 11
Inattention12 (12.8%)-42.9%prior 21
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road8 (8.5%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner5 (5.3%)
Followed too closely5 (5.3%)
Made an improper turn3 (3.2%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (2.1%)
Other improper action2 (2.1%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (1.1%)

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

While most crashes in both years occurred on dry roads in clear weather, there was a notable increase in incidents during adverse conditions. The number of crashes on wet roads rose from 11 to 19, and their share of total crashes increased from 12.2% to 20.2%. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight decreased slightly from 78.9% to 74.5%, while crashes in dark but lighted roadway conditions more than doubled, increasing from 5 to 11 incidents.

Weather

Clear49 (52.1%)
-14.0%prior 57
Clear/Other12 (12.8%)
140.0%prior 5
Cloudy8 (8.5%)
14.3%prior 7
Rain8 (8.5%)
33.3%prior 6
Clear/Clear6 (6.4%)
Rain/Cloudy5 (5.3%)
Clear/Cloudy3 (3.2%)
Clear/Unknown2 (2.1%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (1.1%)

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

Lighting

Daylight70 (74.5%)
-1.4%prior 71
Dark - lighted roadway11 (11.7%)
120.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted8 (8.5%)
-11.1%prior 9
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (2.1%)
Dusk2 (2.1%)
Dawn1 (1.1%)

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

Road Surface

Dry75 (79.8%)
-1.3%prior 76
Wet19 (20.2%)
72.7%prior 11

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The most common vehicle makes involved in crashes, including Toyota, Honda, and Ford, remained consistent across both years, though the count for Toyota-involved crashes fell from 36 to 31. A notable demographic change was observed in the age of persons involved in crashes. The proportion of individuals in the 65+ age group increased from 24.9% of all persons in 2024 to 32.7% in 2025.

Top Vehicle Makes (167 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA31 (18.6%)
-13.9%prior 36
2
HONDA17 (10.2%)
-10.5%prior 19
3
FORD16 (9.6%)
6.7%prior 15
4
CHEVROLET12 (7.2%)
-20.0%prior 15
5
JEEP11 (6.6%)
10.0%prior 10
6
LEXUS8 (4.8%)
7
RAM7 (4.2%)
8
GMC7 (4.2%)
9
MERCEDES-BENZ6 (3.6%)
10
SUBARU6 (3.6%)
0.0%prior 6

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

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

Sex Distribution (222 persons with recorded sex)

Female115 (51.8%)
25.0%prior 92
Male107 (48.2%)
0.9%prior 106

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

The distribution of crashes across speed zones changed between the two periods. Crashes in 30 mph zones saw a significant increase in count from 35 to 47, and this zone was where the single fatal crash of 2025 occurred. In contrast, the number of crashes in 40 mph zones decreased from 19 to 11. This suggests a shift in crash occurrences towards areas with lower posted speed limits.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 47 (2.128%)

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: ORLEANS, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 94
  • Total persons involved: 223
  • Total vehicles involved: 167

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). "ORLEANS, 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/orleans/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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Orleans, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com