Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

74 CRASHES IN
SAUGUS, MA
NOVEMBER 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstNovember 2022

In November 2023, Saugus experienced 74 total crashes, a decrease of 6.33% compared to the 79 crashes reported in November 2022. While overall crashes decreased, serious injuries rose from 2 to 4, a 100% increase year-over-year. A notable positive shift was the significant reduction in hit-and-run crashes, which decreased from 8 to 3.

74

-6.3%was 79

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

37

8.8%was 34

Persons Injured

3

-62.5%was 8

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 · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend for crashes in Saugus for November shows a slight decrease, with total crashes falling from 79 in the prior year to 74 in the current period, representing a 6.33% reduction. However, total injuries increased from 34 to 37, an 8.82% rise. This suggests that while fewer crashes occurred, the severity of outcomes for individuals involved in crashes increased.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — November 2023

-62.5% vs prior (8)

Hit-and-run crashes experienced a significant decrease year-over-year, falling from 8 incidents in November 2022 to 3 incidents in November 2023. This reduction led to the hit-and-run rate dropping from 10.1% of all crashes to 4.1%. This indicates a positive downward trend in hit-and-run incidents for the period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

37

Motorists Injured

Prior: 348.8%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The peak day for crashes remained Wednesday in both periods, though the number of crashes on Wednesdays decreased from 17 in November 2022 to 16 in November 2023. The peak crash hour shifted from 6 PM with 11 crashes in the prior period to 5 PM with 9 crashes in the current period. Crashes occurring at 6 PM also decreased from 11 to 6 year-over-year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There were no fatal crashes in either November 2022 or November 2023. However, serious injuries (code A) increased by 100%, rising from 2 persons in the prior period to 4 persons in the current period. Minor injuries (code B) decreased from 18 persons to 11 persons, while possible injuries (code C) increased from 5 persons to 11 persons, a 120% rise.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury4serious injury crashes5.4%
100.0%prior 2
Minor Injury11minor injury crashes14.9%
-38.9%prior 18
Possible Injury11possible injury crashes14.9%
120.0%prior 5
No Injury46no injury crashes62.2%
-8.0%prior 50

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor, "No improper driving," saw a decrease in count from 27 crashes in November 2022 to 23 crashes in November 2023. "Followed too closely" also decreased significantly from 12 crashes to 7 crashes. Conversely, "Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner" increased in count from 2 crashes to 4 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving23 (31.1%)-14.8%prior 27
Followed too closely7 (9.5%)-41.7%prior 12
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner4 (5.4%)
Failed to yield right of way4 (5.4%)-33.3%prior 6
Inattention4 (5.4%)-20.0%prior 5
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway3 (4.1%)
Other improper action3 (4.1%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (2.7%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (2.7%)
Glare1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions slightly decreased from 62 in the prior period to 59 in the current period. The number of crashes during rain conditions decreased from 6 to 3. For lighting conditions, crashes during 'Dark - lighted roadway' decreased from 37 in November 2022 to 27 in November 2023, while 'Daylight' crashes remained stable at 37.

Weather

Clear59 (79.7%)
-4.8%prior 62
Cloudy8 (10.8%)
0.0%prior 8
Rain3 (4.1%)
-50.0%prior 6
Cloudy/Rain2 (2.7%)
Clear/Unknown1 (1.4%)
Cloudy/Clear1 (1.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight37 (50.0%)
0.0%prior 37
Dark - lighted roadway27 (36.5%)
-27.0%prior 37
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (5.4%)
Dusk4 (5.4%)
Dawn2 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry68 (91.9%)
-2.9%prior 70
Wet6 (8.1%)
-25.0%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The ranking of top vehicle makes involved in crashes shifted, with Toyota becoming the most frequently involved make in November 2023 (27 vehicles), up from 20 in the prior year. Honda, which was the top make in November 2022 with 30 vehicles, saw its involvement decrease to 25 vehicles. The 26-34 age group showed the highest number of persons involved in crashes in the current period, increasing from 31 to 38 persons, while the 35-44 age group decreased from 33 to 20 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (137 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA27 (19.7%)
35.0%prior 20
2
HONDA25 (18.2%)
-16.7%prior 30
3
CHEVROLET11 (8%)
-21.4%prior 14
4
NISSAN9 (6.6%)
0.0%prior 9
5
FORD9 (6.6%)
-50.0%prior 18
6
SUBARU8 (5.8%)
60.0%prior 5
7
KIA7 (5.1%)
-12.5%prior 8
8
JEEP5 (3.6%)
-44.4%prior 9
9
BMW3 (2.2%)
10
HYUNDAI3 (2.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (146 persons with recorded sex)

Male95 (65.1%)
4.4%prior 91
Female51 (34.9%)
-32.0%prior 75

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes occurring in 50 mph speed zones decreased from 35 in November 2022 to 25 in November 2023. Crashes in 30 mph zones also saw a slight reduction, from 26 to 23. There were no fatal crashes reported in any speed limit zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30 · 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: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-11-01 through 2023-11-30 (30 days)
  • Geographic scope: SAUGUS, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 74
  • Total persons involved: 160
  • Total vehicles involved: 137

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: November 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2023-11-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/saugus/november-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 — November 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com