Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

113 CRASHES IN
PEABODY, MA
JANUARY 2026

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2025

In January 2026, Peabody experienced 113 crashes, an increase from the 109 crashes recorded in January 2025, representing a 3.7% rise. Total injuries saw a slight increase from 20 to 21. A notable positive shift was the complete absence of pedestrian crashes in January 2026, compared to 3 pedestrian crashes in the prior year.

113

3.7%was 109

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

21

5.0%was 20

Persons Injured

6

50.0%was 4

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 · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash data for January 2026 indicates a slight upward trend in total crashes, increasing by 3.7% from 109 to 113 compared to January 2025. Total injuries also saw a minor increase, rising from 20 to 21. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

6

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2026

50.0% vs prior (4)

Hit-and-run crashes increased year-over-year, rising from 4 incidents in January 2025 to 6 incidents in January 2026. This change resulted in an increase in the hit-and-run rate from 3.7% to 5.3% of all crashes.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

21

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1723.5%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal pattern of crashes shifted year-over-year, with Friday becoming the peak day in January 2026 with 22 crashes, compared to Wednesday with 20 crashes in January 2025. The peak hour for crashes also changed from 3 PM with 13 crashes in January 2025 to 5 PM with 9 crashes in January 2026.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The severity distribution remained stable regarding serious injuries, with 1 serious injury reported in both January 2025 and January 2026. Minor injuries, however, doubled from 7 to 14. Conversely, possible injuries decreased significantly from 6 in January 2025 to 2 in January 2026.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.9%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury14minor injury crashes12.4%
100.0%prior 7
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes1.8%
-66.7%prior 6
No Injury96no injury crashes85%
6.7%prior 90

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, 'Driving too fast for conditions' saw a substantial increase, rising from 2 crashes in January 2025 to 12 crashes in January 2026. 'No improper driving' decreased by 7 crashes, from 42 to 35, and its share of total crashes dropped from 38.5% to 31%. 'Failed to yield right of way' also increased from 4 to 8 crashes, and 'Made an improper turn' increased from 1 to 6 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving35 (31%)-16.7%prior 42
Inattention14 (12.4%)-6.7%prior 15
Driving too fast for conditions12 (10.6%)
Followed too closely9 (8%)28.6%prior 7
Failed to yield right of way8 (7.1%)
Made an improper turn6 (5.3%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road5 (4.4%)
Other improper action4 (3.5%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway3 (2.7%)
Physical impairment3 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift in crash conditions, with crashes on snowy road surfaces increasing from 10 in January 2025 to 25 in January 2026. Similarly, crashes on icy road surfaces increased from 5 to 9. Concurrently, crashes on dry road surfaces decreased from 84 to 63, and crashes during clear weather conditions decreased from 78 to 60.

Weather

Clear60 (53.1%)
-23.1%prior 78
Snow19 (16.8%)
216.7%prior 6
Clear/Clear8 (7.1%)
Cloudy8 (7.1%)
33.3%prior 6
Snow/Snow4 (3.5%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)3 (2.7%)
Cloudy/Clear2 (1.8%)
Rain/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)2 (1.8%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (0.9%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow1 (0.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight67 (59.3%)
-8.2%prior 73
Dark - lighted roadway33 (29.2%)
26.9%prior 26
Dark - roadway not lighted9 (8.0%)
Dawn2 (1.8%)
Dusk2 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry63 (55.8%)
-25.0%prior 84
Snow25 (22.1%)
150.0%prior 10
Wet16 (14.2%)
60.0%prior 10
Ice9 (8.0%)
80.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased slightly from 204 to 210 year-over-year. A significant shift in top vehicle makes was observed, with Honda's involvement decreasing from 36 to 22 crashes, while Ford's involvement increased from 15 to 27 crashes. Hyundai also saw a notable increase in involvement from 5 to 13 crashes.

Top Vehicle Makes (210 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA33 (15.7%)
0.0%prior 33
2
FORD27 (12.9%)
80.0%prior 15
3
HONDA22 (10.5%)
-38.9%prior 36
4
CHEVROLET18 (8.6%)
38.5%prior 13
5
HYUNDAI13 (6.2%)
160.0%prior 5
6
JEEP11 (5.2%)
-31.3%prior 16
7
KIA9 (4.3%)
8
NISSAN9 (4.3%)
-30.8%prior 13
9
VOLKSWAGEN8 (3.8%)
10
SUBARU7 (3.3%)
-41.7%prior 12

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (225 persons with recorded sex)

Male113 (50.2%)
-14.4%prior 132
Female112 (49.8%)
24.4%prior 90

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased from 37 to 41, while crashes in the 30 mph zone decreased from 29 to 19. A notable increase was observed in the 55 mph speed zone, where crashes rose from 5 to 13. Fatalities remained at 0 across all speed zones in both periods.

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2026-01-01 through 2026-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: PEABODY, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 113
  • Total persons involved: 254
  • Total vehicles involved: 210

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). "PEABODY, MA Crash Intelligence Report: January 2026." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2026-01-01 to 2026-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/peabody/january-2026-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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Peabody, MA Crash Report — January 2026 | ThatCarHitMe.com