Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

10 CRASHES IN
PLAINFIELD, MA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

Crash totals in Plainfield decreased from 14 in 2023 to 10 in 2024, a 28.6% reduction. Despite the overall drop in collisions, the most significant change was the occurrence of one fatal crash in 2024, whereas there were no fatalities recorded in the prior year. This shift indicates an increase in overall crash severity even as the total number of incidents declined.

10

-28.6%was 14

Total Crash Events

1

Persons Killed

4

-20.0%was 5

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 · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Year-over-year, Plainfield experienced a downward trend in total traffic collisions, with crashes decreasing by 28.6% from 14 to 10. The number of reported injuries also saw a slight decrease from 5 to 4. However, this period was marked by an increase in severity, with one fatality recorded in 2024 compared to zero in the previous year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Motorists Killed

Prior: 0%

4

Motorists Injured

Prior: 5-20.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes shifted year-over-year. The most common day for crashes changed from Monday, with 4 incidents in 2023, to Saturday, with 5 incidents in 2024. While the prior year showed a concentration of crashes during the 8 p.m. hour (3 incidents), the current year's crashes were more evenly distributed throughout the day, with no single hour recording more than one incident.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Crash severity increased notably in 2024, with one fatal crash accounting for 10% of all incidents, compared to zero fatal crashes in 2023. While the previous period recorded two serious injury crashes, the current period had none, instead recording two minor injury crashes and one possible injury crash. The proportion of non-injury crashes remained similar, shifting from 57.1% in 2023 to 60% in 2024.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal1fatal crashes10%
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes20%
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes10%
-50.0%prior 2
No Injury6no injury crashes60%
-25.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor in both periods was 'No improper driving,' though its count decreased from 7 crashes in 2023 to 4 in 2024. Incidents where 'Driving too fast for conditions' was a factor doubled from 1 to 2 year-over-year. The number of crashes involving 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' remained constant at one incident in both years.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving4 (40%)-42.9%prior 7
Driving too fast for conditions2 (20%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (10%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (10%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road1 (10%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (10%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes in 'Daylight' conditions remained constant at 6 incidents for both years, but collisions in 'Dark - roadway not lighted' conditions decreased from 7 to 3. There was a notable shift in road surface conditions, with crashes on 'Dry' surfaces falling from 11 to 4. Conversely, incidents on 'Ice' increased from 1 to 3, and crashes on 'Wet' roads rose from 1 to 2.

Weather

Clear4 (40.0%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (10.0%)
Cloudy1 (10.0%)
-80.0%prior 5
Rain/Rain1 (10.0%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)/Rain1 (10.0%)
Snow1 (10.0%)
Snow/Rain1 (10.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight6 (60.0%)
0.0%prior 6
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (30.0%)
-57.1%prior 7
Dark - lighted roadway1 (10.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry4 (40.0%)
-63.6%prior 11
Ice3 (30.0%)
Wet2 (20.0%)
Snow1 (10.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (10 vehicles)

1
FORD2 (20%)
2
GMC1 (10%)
3
HONDA1 (10%)
4
INTL1 (10%)
5
NISSAN1 (10%)
6
TOYOTA1 (10%)
7
VOLKSWAGEN1 (10%)
8
CHEVROLET1 (10%)
9
VOLVO1 (10%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

Sex Distribution (14 persons with recorded sex)

Male10 (71.4%)
11.1%prior 9
Female4 (28.6%)
-33.3%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shifted significantly. In 2024, a fatal crash occurred in a 65 mph zone, a speed zone where no crashes were recorded in the prior year. Collisions in the 35 mph and 45 mph zones decreased from 5 and 6 respectively in 2023, to 1 and 2 in 2024. Concurrently, 3 crashes were recorded in 25 mph zones in 2024, whereas none were reported in that speed zone in 2023.

Fatal crashes by zone: 65 mph: 1 of 1 (100%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · 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: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-01-01 through 2024-12-31 (366 days)
  • Geographic scope: PLAINFIELD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 10
  • Total persons involved: 14
  • Total vehicles involved: 10

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). "PLAINFIELD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/plainfield/2024-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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Plainfield, MA Crash Report — 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com