Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

61 CRASHES IN
SAUGUS, MA
DECEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstDecember 2022

In December 2023, the total number of crashes was 61, a 20.8% decrease from the 77 crashes reported in December 2022. Total injuries also decreased by 13.3%, from 30 to 26. A notable shift is the appearance of one serious injury crash (Severity A) in the current period, where none were reported in the prior period.

61

-20.8%was 77

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

26

-13.3%was 30

Persons Injured

4

100.0%was 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. 1 crash with unreported severity is not shown in the severity breakdown.

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

Trend Summary

Overall, crashes in Saugus, MA showed a downward trend year-over-year. Total crashes decreased by 16, from 77 in December 2022 to 61 in December 2023, representing a 20.8% reduction. Total injuries also declined by 4, from 30 to 26, a 13.3% decrease, while fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

4

Hit-and-Run Crashes — December 2023

100.0% vs prior (2)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 2 in December 2022 to 4 in December 2023, representing a 100% increase in count. The hit-and-run rate also rose from 2.6% of total crashes in the prior period to 6.6% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

4

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 2100.0%

22

Motorists Injured

Prior: 28-21.4%

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

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday, with 16 crashes in December 2022, to Saturday, with 12 crashes in December 2023. The peak crash hour remained 5p in both periods, though the count at this hour decreased from 11 crashes in the prior period to 8 crashes in the current period.

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at 0 in both periods. Serious injury crashes (Severity A) increased from 0 in the prior period to 1 (1.6% of total crashes) in the current period. Minor injury crashes (Severity B) increased from 13 (16.9% of prior crashes) to 20 (32.8% of current crashes), while possible injury crashes (Severity C) decreased from 9 (11.7% of prior crashes) to 1 (1.6% of current crashes).

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes1.6%
Minor Injury20minor injury crashes32.8%
53.8%prior 13
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes1.6%
-88.9%prior 9
No Injury38no injury crashes62.3%
-29.6%prior 54

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' saw a significant increase, rising from 1 in the prior period to 8 in the current period, a 700% increase in count. Conversely, 'Driving too fast for conditions' crashes decreased sharply from 6 to 1, an 83.3% reduction in count. 'No improper driving' was cited in 23 crashes in the current period, up from 21 in the prior period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving23 (37.7%)9.5%prior 21
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road8 (13.1%)
Followed too closely7 (11.5%)-30.0%prior 10
Inattention5 (8.2%)-16.7%prior 6
Failed to yield right of way3 (4.9%)
Distracted3 (4.9%)
Glare1 (1.6%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (1.6%)-83.3%prior 6
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (1.6%)
Physical impairment1 (1.6%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in 'Clear' weather conditions decreased from 45 in the prior period to 35 in the current period. Crashes on 'Ice' road surfaces saw a substantial decrease, from 13 in the prior period to just 1 in the current period. Conversely, crashes during 'Rain' increased slightly from 10 to 13.

Weather

Clear35 (57.4%)
-22.2%prior 45
Rain13 (21.3%)
30.0%prior 10
Cloudy9 (14.8%)
28.6%prior 7
Cloudy/Rain2 (3.3%)
Clear/Rain1 (1.6%)
Cloudy/Fog, smog, smoke1 (1.6%)

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

Lighting

Dark - lighted roadway28 (45.9%)
-30.0%prior 40
Daylight24 (39.3%)
-20.0%prior 30
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (4.9%)
Dawn3 (4.9%)
Dusk2 (3.3%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (1.6%)

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

Road Surface

Dry41 (67.2%)
-4.7%prior 43
Wet19 (31.1%)
5.6%prior 18
Ice1 (1.6%)
-92.3%prior 13

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 150 to 122 year-over-year. Toyota, which was the top vehicle make in the prior period with 31 vehicles, saw its involvement decrease to 16, while Honda became the most frequently involved make with 18 vehicles. In terms of age distribution, the 0-15 age group saw a decrease in persons involved from 7 to 2, and the 45-54 age group decreased from 29 to 13.

Top Vehicle Makes (122 vehicles)

1
HONDA18 (14.8%)
-5.3%prior 19
2
TOYOTA16 (13.1%)
-48.4%prior 31
3
FORD12 (9.8%)
0.0%prior 12
4
CHEVROLET7 (5.7%)
-12.5%prior 8
5
NISSAN6 (4.9%)
-50.0%prior 12
6
JEEP5 (4.1%)
-16.7%prior 6
7
HYUNDAI5 (4.1%)
-16.7%prior 6
8
SUBARU4 (3.3%)
-50.0%prior 8
9
DODGE4 (3.3%)
10
MITS3 (2.5%)

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

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

Sex Distribution (120 persons with recorded sex)

Male69 (57.5%)
-30.3%prior 99
Female51 (42.5%)
-30.1%prior 73

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

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 30 mph speed zones decreased from 25 in the prior period to 18 in the current period, and crashes in 50 mph speed zones also decreased from 30 to 23. In contrast, crashes in 25 mph speed zones increased from 1 to 4. No fatalities were recorded in any speed zone for either period.

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

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-12-01 through 2023-12-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SAUGUS, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 61
  • Total persons involved: 134
  • Total vehicles involved: 122

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: December 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/saugus/december-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

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Saugus, MA Crash Report — December 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com