Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

109 CRASHES IN
PEABODY, MA
MAY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2024

Total crashes in Peabody increased by 13.54%, rising from 96 in May 2024 to 109 in May 2025. This period also saw a significant 57.89% increase in total injuries, from 19 to 30. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

109

13.5%was 96

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

30

57.9%was 19

Persons Injured

10

42.9%was 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. 2 crashes with unreported severity are 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

Overall, crash data for Peabody indicates an upward trend in May, with total crashes increasing by 13.54% year-over-year from 96 to 109. Concurrently, total injuries rose by 57.89%, from 19 to 30. Fatalities remained consistent at zero for both periods.

10

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2025

42.9% vs prior (7)

The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 42.86% year-over-year, rising from 7 in May 2024 to 10 in May 2025. The hit-and-run rate also increased from 7.3% to 9.2% of all crashes. This indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 10.0%

28

Motorists Injured

Prior: 1855.6%

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 peak day for crashes remained Friday in both May 2024 and May 2025, with 22 crashes each. However, the peak hour shifted from 7 AM (12 crashes) in May 2024 to 5 PM (11 crashes) in May 2025. Additionally, crashes on Tuesdays increased from 8 to 18, while crashes on Wednesdays decreased from 21 to 11.

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 zero in both May 2024 and May 2025. Serious injuries increased from 0 to 1, while minor injuries rose from 12 to 17, and possible injuries increased from 1 to 5. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injuries increased from 12.5% to 15.6% year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.9%
Minor Injury17minor injury crashes15.6%
41.7%prior 12
Possible Injury5possible injury crashes4.6%
400.0%prior 1
No Injury84no injury crashes77.1%
6.3%prior 79

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 contributing factor "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner" saw a substantial increase, rising from 2 crashes in May 2024 to 7 crashes in May 2025. Conversely, crashes attributed to "Distracted" driving decreased from 3 to 1. "No improper driving" remained the most frequent factor, increasing slightly from 25 to 27 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving27 (24.8%)8.0%prior 25
Inattention15 (13.8%)7.1%prior 14
Followed too closely11 (10.1%)-8.3%prior 12
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner7 (6.4%)
Failed to yield right of way6 (5.5%)
Other improper action6 (5.5%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road6 (5.5%)20.0%prior 5
Driving too fast for conditions4 (3.7%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit2 (1.8%)
Fatigued/asleep2 (1.8%)

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 rainy weather conditions saw a notable increase, rising from 7 in May 2024 to 19 in May 2025. Correspondingly, crashes on wet road surfaces increased significantly from 9 to 22. Crashes during daylight hours increased from 84 to 88, while those in dark but lighted roadways rose from 9 to 15.

Weather

Clear61 (56.0%)
-3.2%prior 63
Rain15 (13.8%)
Cloudy12 (11.0%)
-14.3%prior 14
Clear/Clear11 (10.1%)
Clear/Other4 (3.7%)
Rain/Rain2 (1.8%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (0.9%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (0.9%)
Rain/Cloudy1 (0.9%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (0.9%)
-88.9%prior 9

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

Lighting

Daylight88 (80.7%)
4.8%prior 84
Dark - lighted roadway15 (13.8%)
66.7%prior 9
Dusk3 (2.8%)
Dawn2 (1.8%)
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (0.9%)

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

Road Surface

Dry86 (78.9%)
-1.1%prior 87
Wet22 (20.2%)
144.4%prior 9
Water (standing, moving)1 (0.9%)

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 192 in May 2024 to 218 in May 2025. There was a notable shift in the age distribution of persons involved, with the 45-54 age group increasing from 16 to 31 and the 55-64 age group increasing from 17 to 31. Honda, Toyota, and Ford remained the top three vehicle makes involved in crashes in both periods.

Top Vehicle Makes (218 vehicles)

1
HONDA38 (17.4%)
2.7%prior 37
2
TOYOTA26 (11.9%)
13.0%prior 23
3
FORD20 (9.2%)
0.0%prior 20
4
CHEVROLET16 (7.3%)
14.3%prior 14
5
SUBARU12 (5.5%)
50.0%prior 8
6
JEEP11 (5%)
10.0%prior 10
7
NISSAN11 (5%)
-31.3%prior 16
8
MAZDA11 (5%)
120.0%prior 5
9
BMW6 (2.8%)
-25.0%prior 8
10
HYUNDAI5 (2.3%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (228 persons with recorded sex)

Male142 (62.3%)
25.7%prior 113
Female86 (37.7%)
-4.4%prior 90

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

No fatalities were reported in any speed limit zone for either May 2024 or May 2025. Crashes in 25 mph zones increased from 22 to 38, while crashes in 30 mph zones decreased from 28 to 24. Crashes occurred in a wider range of speed zones in May 2025, including new appearances at 5 mph, 40 mph, 45 mph, and 65 mph.

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: PEABODY, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 109
  • Total persons involved: 261
  • Total vehicles involved: 218

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: 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/peabody/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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Peabody, MA Crash Report — May 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com