ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · PALMER, MA · AUGUST 2025
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/palmer/august-2025-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
26 CRASHES IN
PALMER, MA
AUGUST 2025
In August 2025, Palmer experienced 26 crashes, marking a 23.5% decrease from the 34 crashes recorded in August 2024. The most significant year-over-year shift was an 80% reduction in hit-and-run crashes, falling from 5 to 1.
26
▼ -23.5%was 34
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
2
▼ -71.4%was 7
Persons Injured
1
▼ -80.0%was 5
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 · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, the trend indicates a decrease in crash incidents in Palmer, with total crashes falling by 23.5% from 34 in August 2024 to 26 in August 2025. This reduction is also reflected in a 71.4% decrease in total injuries, from 7 to 2.
1
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2025
▼ -80.0% vs prior (5)
Hit-and-run crashes saw a substantial decrease, falling from 5 incidents in August 2024 to 1 incident in August 2025. This represents an 80% reduction in the count of hit-and-run crashes, with the hit-and-run rate dropping from 14.7% to 3.8% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Motorists Killed
2
Motorists Injured
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 temporal patterns show a shift in peak crash activity. In August 2025, the peak day for crashes was Saturday with 6 incidents, whereas in August 2024, Monday was the peak with 10 crashes. The peak hour also shifted from 3 PM with 5 crashes in the prior period to 2 PM with 4 crashes in the current period.
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
Fatalities remained at 0 in both August 2025 and August 2024. Total injuries decreased significantly by 71.4%, from 7 in the prior period to 2 in the current period. Minor injuries saw a reduction from 4 (11.8% of crashes) to 1 (3.8% of crashes), and possible injuries decreased from 3 (8.8% of crashes) to 1 (3.8% of crashes).
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
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
Among contributing factors, 'Inattention' decreased by 2 crashes, from 6 in August 2024 to 4 in August 2025. 'Failed to yield right of way' and 'Followed too closely' also saw notable reductions, decreasing by 2 crashes and 3 crashes respectively. Conversely, 'Other improper action' increased by 2 crashes, from 1 to 3, while 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' was present in 3 crashes in the prior period but 0 in the current period.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
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
The proportion of crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 24 in August 2024 to 13 in August 2025, even as total crashes declined. Crashes on wet road surfaces also saw a reduction, falling from 9 in the prior period to 4 in the current period. Daylight remained the dominant lighting condition for crashes in both periods, though the count decreased from 23 to 19.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
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 (45 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
4 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (52 persons with recorded sex)
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
Crashes in 65 mph zones significantly decreased from 12 in August 2024 to 4 in August 2025, a 66.7% reduction. Crashes in 30 mph zones also fell from 10 to 7, and 35 mph zones from 6 to 4. There was an increase in crashes in 10 mph zones, from 1 to 2, and new crash occurrences were observed in 25 mph (2 crashes) and 50 mph (1 crash) zones in the current period, which were not present in the prior period.
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: PALMER, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 26
- Total persons involved: 56
- Total vehicles involved: 45
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). "PALMER, 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/palmer/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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2025-08-01 – 2025-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved