ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · ROYALSTON, MA · 2024
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/royalston/2024-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
9 CRASHES IN
ROYALSTON, MA
2024
In 2024, Royalston recorded 9 total crashes, a 125% increase from the 4 crashes documented in 2023. The most significant year-over-year change was the occurrence of 2 fatalities in 2024, resulting from a single fatal crash, whereas no fatalities were recorded in the prior year.
9
▲ 125.0%was 4
Total Crash Events
2
Persons Killed
9
▲ 200.0%was 3
Persons Injured
1
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (2) 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
Crash data for Royalston indicates a rising trend year-over-year. Total crashes more than doubled, increasing from 4 in 2023 to 9 in 2024. Concurrently, the number of persons injured tripled from 3 to 9, and the city recorded 2 fatalities in 2024 after having none in the previous year.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
2
Motorists Killed
9
Motorists Injured
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 between the two periods. In 2024, the peak day for crashes was Sunday with 4 incidents, a change from 2023 when Tuesday was the peak day with 2 crashes. The peak time for crashes also changed; 2024 saw crash clusters in the afternoon and evening hours (1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. each had 2 crashes), whereas 2023's incidents were more spread out, with a slight peak of one crash at 5 p.m.
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
The severity of crashes increased in 2024 compared to 2023. A fatal crash occurred in 2024, accounting for 11.1% of all crashes, whereas there were no fatal crashes in the prior year. While the absolute number of serious injury crashes remained stable at one, its proportion of total crashes decreased from 25% in 2023 to 11.1% in 2024 due to the overall increase in crash volume. The share of crashes resulting in no injuries also decreased, from 50% in 2023 to 22.2% in 2024.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 1 fatal crash events resulted in 2 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
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 years was "No improper driving," with the count of such crashes increasing from 2 in 2023 to 4 in 2024. A notable change in 2024 was the emergence of speed-related factors, which were not recorded in 2023. In 2024, "Exceeded authorized speed limit" was a factor in 2 crashes, and "Driving too fast for conditions" was a factor in 1 crash. The factor "Failure to keep in proper lane," which was cited in 1 crash in 2023, was not recorded in 2024.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
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
In both 2024 and 2023, the majority of crashes occurred in clear weather and on dry roads. In 2024, 78% of crashes happened on dry roads, compared to 50% in 2023. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight was similar in both years (56% in 2024 vs. 50% in 2023). However, 2023 saw a higher proportion of crashes on adverse road surfaces like ice or sand (50% combined), while 2024 recorded one crash on snow and one on a wet surface (22% combined).
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
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 (11 vehicles)
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)
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
Crashes in 2024 were more concentrated in 30 mph zones, with 5 incidents recorded, compared to just 1 in 2023. The single fatal crash in 2024 occurred in a 30 mph zone. In contrast, 2023's crashes were most common in 35 mph zones (2 crashes), a level that saw the same number of crashes in 2024. The 2024 data also includes single crashes in 25 mph and 45 mph zones, which were not present in the prior year's data.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 5 (20%)
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: ROYALSTON, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 9
- Total persons involved: 14
- Total vehicles involved: 11
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). "ROYALSTON, 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/royalston/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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2024-01-01 – 2024-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved