Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

16 CRASHES IN
PEPPERELL, MA
FEBRUARY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstFebruary 2024

PEPPERELL experienced a 60% increase in total crashes, rising from 10 in February 2024 to 16 in February 2025. A significant shift was observed in crash outcomes, with total fatalities increasing from 0 in the prior period to 1 in the current period.

16

60.0%was 10

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

1

Persons Injured

1

Fatal Crash Events

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 · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in PEPPERELL show a notable increase year-over-year, with total crashes rising by 60% from 10 to 16. This period also saw an increase in severe outcomes, as total fatalities rose from 0 to 1, and total injuries increased from 0 to 1.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

1

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted year-over-year, with the peak day moving from Sunday with 3 crashes in February 2024 to Saturday with 4 crashes in February 2025. Similarly, the peak crash hour changed from 9 AM with 2 crashes in the prior period to 10 PM with 3 crashes in the current period, indicating a shift towards later evening incidents.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes6.3%
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes6.3%
No Injury14no injury crashes87.5%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among common contributing factors, crashes attributed to 'No improper driving' increased from 2 in February 2024 to 5 in February 2025, and 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes rose from 1 to 2. The prior period's top factor, 'Inattention' (5 crashes), was not among the leading factors in the current period. Conversely, 'Driving too fast for conditions' emerged as a significant factor in February 2025 with 3 crashes, a category not prominently listed in the prior period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving5 (31.3%)
Driving too fast for conditions3 (18.8%)
Followed too closely2 (12.5%)
Failed to yield right of way2 (12.5%)
Other improper action1 (6.3%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (6.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

There was a notable shift in crash conditions, with crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather decreasing from 8 to 6, while 'Snow' conditions accounted for 5 crashes in February 2025, up from 0 in the prior year. Road surface conditions also reflected this trend, as crashes on 'Dry' surfaces decreased from 9 to 4, and 'Snow' surfaces contributed to 6 crashes in the current period, compared to none previously. Additionally, crashes occurring in 'Dark - lighted roadway' conditions saw a substantial increase from 1 to 7.

Weather

Clear6 (40.0%)
-25.0%prior 8
Snow5 (33.3%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)2 (13.3%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (6.7%)
Rain1 (6.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Dark - lighted roadway7 (43.8%)
Daylight6 (37.5%)
-14.3%prior 7
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (12.5%)
Dawn1 (6.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Snow6 (40.0%)
Dry4 (26.7%)
-55.6%prior 9
Wet3 (20.0%)
Slush2 (13.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (23 vehicles)

1
FORD5 (21.7%)
2
SUBARU3 (13%)
3
TOYOTA3 (13%)
4
CHEVROLET2 (8.7%)
5
CADI2 (8.7%)
6
JEEP1 (4.3%)
7
MAZDA1 (4.3%)
8
TESL1 (4.3%)
9
HONDA1 (4.3%)
10
BUIC1 (4.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Vehicle unit records

Sex Distribution (26 persons with recorded sex)

Male16 (61.5%)
45.5%prior 11
Female10 (38.5%)
25.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 30 mph speed zones saw a significant increase, rising from 3 in February 2024 to 9 in February 2025. Meanwhile, crashes in 40 mph zones remained stable at 2, and those in 45 mph zones decreased from 3 to 2. The single fatality in the current period did not occur within any of the specifically listed speed limit zones.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28 · 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: 2025-02-01 through 2025-02-28
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-02-01 through 2025-02-28 (28 days)
  • Geographic scope: PEPPERELL, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 16
  • Total persons involved: 26
  • Total vehicles involved: 23

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). "PEPPERELL, MA Crash Intelligence Report: February 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-02-01 to 2025-02-28. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/pepperell/february-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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Pepperell, MA Crash Report — February 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com