Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

928 CRASHES IN
PITTSFIELD, MA
2023

All metrics benchmarked against2022

Total crashes in Pittsfield decreased from 958 in 2022 to 928 in 2023, a 3.1% reduction. Despite the overall decrease in collisions, the most significant year-over-year change was a sharp increase in traffic fatalities, which rose from one in 2022 to five in 2023.

928

-3.1%was 958

Total Crash Events

5

400.0%was 1

Persons Killed

267

-7.0%was 287

Persons Injured

4

-33.3%was 6

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (5) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 57 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall traffic collisions in Pittsfield saw a minor decrease of 3.1% from 958 in 2022 to 928 in 2023. This downward trend in total crashes was accompanied by a significant rise in severity. The number of fatalities increased from one to five, while total injuries fell by 7.0% from 287 to 267.

4

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2023

-33.3% vs prior (6)

The number of hit-and-run crashes decreased from 6 incidents in 2022 to 4 in 2023, a 33.3% reduction in the absolute count of such events. The hit-and-run rate, as a percentage of total crashes, also trended downward from 0.6% in the prior year to 0.4% in the current year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

3

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

15

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 20-25.0%

10

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 14-28.6%

242

Motorists Injured

Prior: 249-2.8%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The daily and weekly patterns of crashes showed some shifts between the two periods. While the afternoon rush hour at 4 p.m. remained the peak time for crashes in both years, the peak day for collisions moved from Monday in 2022 (158 crashes) to Friday in 2023 (162 crashes). Crashes on Mondays saw a notable year-over-year decrease to 124 incidents.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While total crashes declined, the severity of outcomes worsened in 2023. The number of fatal crashes increased from one to five, raising the fatal crash rate from 0.1% to 0.54% of all collisions. Conversely, crashes resulting in serious injuries decreased from 20 to 15, and those with possible injuries fell from 67 to 49.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes0.5%
400.0%prior 1
Serious Injury15serious injury crashes1.6%
-25.0%prior 20
Minor Injury133minor injury crashes14.3%
0.0%prior 133
Possible Injury49possible injury crashes5.3%
-26.9%prior 67
No Injury669no injury crashes72.1%
-3.6%prior 694

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes shifted between 2022 and 2023. "Inattention" saw its count increase by 32.1% from 109 to 144 incidents, moving it from the third to the second most cited factor. In contrast, crashes attributed to "Failed to yield right of way" decreased in count by 14.3% from 154 to 132, dropping from second to third place in the rankings.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving191 (20.6%)-5.9%prior 203
Inattention144 (15.5%)32.1%prior 109
Failed to yield right of way132 (14.2%)-14.3%prior 154
Followed too closely74 (8%)-5.1%prior 78
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road49 (5.3%)6.5%prior 46
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings37 (4%)-9.8%prior 41
Other improper action29 (3.1%)70.6%prior 17
Distracted28 (3%)-15.2%prior 33
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner25 (2.7%)-24.2%prior 33
Visibility obstructed16 (1.7%)-23.8%prior 21

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The conditions under which crashes occurred remained largely consistent, with most incidents in both years happening in clear weather on dry roads. However, there was a notable decrease in crashes on adverse road surfaces. Collisions on snow-covered roads dropped from 55 in 2022 to 29 in 2023, and crashes on icy roads decreased from 15 to 9 over the same period.

Weather

Clear694 (75.2%)
-1.6%prior 705
Cloudy87 (9.4%)
-19.4%prior 108
Rain43 (4.7%)
7.5%prior 40
Snow25 (2.7%)
-16.7%prior 30
Cloudy/Rain19 (2.1%)
-29.6%prior 27
Rain/Cloudy12 (1.3%)
33.3%prior 9
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)5 (0.5%)
Clear/Snow4 (0.4%)
Clear/Unknown4 (0.4%)
Snow/Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)4 (0.4%)
-33.3%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight649 (70.2%)
-7.3%prior 700
Dark - lighted roadway196 (21.2%)
8.3%prior 181
Dusk30 (3.2%)
50.0%prior 20
Dark - roadway not lighted26 (2.8%)
-25.7%prior 35
Dawn17 (1.8%)
41.7%prior 12
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (0.4%)
-42.9%prior 7
Other2 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry765 (82.6%)
0.8%prior 759
Wet118 (12.7%)
-5.6%prior 125
Snow29 (3.1%)
-47.3%prior 55
Ice9 (1.0%)
-40.0%prior 15
Slush4 (0.4%)
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel1 (0.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Ford, and Honda—remained the same in both years, though their total counts declined. Analysis of persons involved shows a demographic shift, with a decrease in the 16-20 and 21-25 age groups (from 222 to 175 and 227 to 188, respectively). Conversely, the number of people in the 26-34 age group involved in crashes increased from 317 to 367.

Top Vehicle Makes (1,698 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA231 (13.6%)
-11.5%prior 261
2
FORD178 (10.5%)
-4.8%prior 187
3
HONDA171 (10.1%)
-3.9%prior 178
4
NISSAN152 (9%)
10.9%prior 137
5
CHEVROLET147 (8.7%)
-6.4%prior 157
6
SUBARU126 (7.4%)
-11.3%prior 142
7
HYUNDAI111 (6.5%)
-2.6%prior 114
8
JEEP81 (4.8%)
-4.7%prior 85
9
DODGE54 (3.2%)
10.2%prior 49
10
GMC50 (2.9%)
19.0%prior 42

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,864 persons with recorded sex)

Male1,015 (54.5%)
-2.6%prior 1,042
Female848 (45.5%)
-4.7%prior 890
X / Unspecified1 (0.1%)
0.0%prior 1

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones changed slightly, with a notable increase in incidents occurring in 25 mph zones, from 146 in 2022 to 174 in 2023. While 2022's single fatal crash occurred in a 35 mph zone, the five fatal crashes in 2023 were spread across a wider range of zones, including 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 mph areas.

Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 174 (0.575%) · 30 mph: 1 of 370 (0.27%) · 35 mph: 1 of 243 (0.412%) · 40 mph: 1 of 67 (1.493%) · 45 mph: 1 of 12 (8.333%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: PITTSFIELD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 928
  • Total persons involved: 2,023
  • Total vehicles involved: 1,698

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). "PITTSFIELD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/pittsfield/2023-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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Pittsfield, MA Crash Report — 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com