ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · SAUGUS, MA · AUGUST 2023
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/saugus/august-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
43 CRASHES IN
SAUGUS, MA
AUGUST 2023
In August 2023, Saugus experienced 43 total crashes, a decrease from the 55 crashes reported in August 2022. This represents a 21.82% reduction in total crashes year-over-year. The most notable shift was the absence of traffic fatalities in August 2023, compared to one fatality in August 2022.
43
▼ -21.8%was 55
Total Crash Events
0
▼ -100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
23
▲ 21.1%was 19
Persons Injured
2
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 · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crash incidents in Saugus decreased year-over-year, with total crashes falling from 55 in August 2022 to 43 in August 2023. This marks a 21.82% reduction in crashes during the period.
2
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2023
▼ 0.0% vs prior (2)
The number of hit-and-run crashes remained constant at 2 for both August 2022 and August 2023. However, due to the overall decrease in total crashes, the hit-and-run rate increased from 3.6% in August 2022 to 4.7% in August 2023.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Motorists Killed
1
Pedestrians Injured
22
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes shifted from Monday with 13 crashes in August 2022 to Tuesday with 11 crashes in August 2023. However, the peak hour remained consistent at 2 PM for both periods, with 6 crashes reported at that hour in both August 2022 and August 2023.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatalities decreased from 1 in August 2022 to 0 in August 2023, eliminating the 1.8% fatal crash rate observed in the prior year. While total injuries increased from 19 to 23, the proportion of serious injury (A) crashes remained stable at 1 for both periods, accounting for 1.8% of crashes in August 2022 and 2.3% in August 2023. Minor injury (B) crashes increased from 9 (16.4% share) to 13 (30.2% share), while possible injury (C) crashes slightly decreased from 3 (5.5% share) to 2 (4.7% share).
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The number of crashes attributed to "No improper driving" decreased by 10, from 25 in August 2022 to 15 in August 2023. "Inattention" also saw a reduction, dropping from 7 crashes to 5 crashes, and "Followed too closely" decreased from 6 crashes to 3 crashes year-over-year. Conversely, factors like "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner," "Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway," "Fatigued/asleep," and "Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings" each appeared once in August 2023, but were not present in the top contributing factors for August 2022.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in "Clear" weather conditions decreased from 41 in August 2022 to 29 in August 2023. Similarly, crashes during "Daylight" conditions decreased from 40 to 29, and crashes on "Dry" road surfaces decreased from 50 to 36. Conversely, crashes in "Wet" road conditions increased from 4 to 7 year-over-year.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 102 in August 2022 to 80 in August 2023. While Toyota remained a top make with 14 vehicles in both periods, Honda dropped from 16 to 7, and Hyundai increased from 4 to 8. The age group 35-44 saw a significant decrease in persons involved, from 22 to 10, while the 0-15 age group increased from 2 to 6.
Top Vehicle Makes (80 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
5 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (89 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 30 mph speed zones decreased from 19 in August 2022 to 13 in August 2023, and crashes in 25 mph zones decreased from 11 to 7. Crashes in 50 mph speed zones also saw a slight decrease from 12 to 11, notably with no fatal crashes reported in these zones in August 2023 compared to one fatal crash in August 2022. The distribution of crashes across speed zones generally saw reductions consistent with the overall decrease in total crashes.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31 · 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: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-08-01 through 2023-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: SAUGUS, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 43
- Total persons involved: 98
- Total vehicles involved: 80
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). "SAUGUS, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2023-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/saugus/august-2023-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: 2023-08-01 – 2023-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved