Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

67 CRASHES IN
SHREWSBURY, MA
MAY 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2023

Total crashes in Shrewsbury, MA increased from 55 in May 2023 to 67 in May 2024, representing a 21.8% rise. The number of injuries saw a substantial increase, climbing from 5 to 19 over the same period. This indicates a notable shift towards more injury-involved crashes in the current month compared to the prior year.

67

21.8%was 55

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

19

280.0%was 5

Persons Injured

0

-100.0%was 4

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 · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash activity in Shrewsbury, MA trended upwards year-over-year. Total crashes increased by 12 incidents, a 21.8% rise, while total injuries surged by 14, marking a 280% increase from May 2023 to May 2024. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

19

Motorists Injured

Prior: 5280.0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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 slightly, with Monday being the sole peak day in May 2024 with 13 crashes, up from 11 crashes in May 2023 when Monday and Thursday shared the peak. The peak crash hour remained consistent at 5 PM, with 9 crashes in May 2024 compared to 8 crashes in May 2023. Crashes on Sundays doubled from 4 to 8, while crashes on Thursdays decreased from 11 to 8.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While no fatalities occurred in either period, the distribution of injury severity changed significantly. Crashes resulting in minor injuries (code B) increased from 3 (5.5% of total crashes) in May 2023 to 9 (13.4% of total crashes) in May 2024. Possible injury crashes (code C) also rose from 1 (1.8% of total crashes) to 4 (6% of total crashes), indicating a higher proportion of crashes with reported injuries.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury9minor injury crashes13.4%
200.0%prior 3
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes6%
300.0%prior 1
No Injury53no injury crashes79.1%
6.0%prior 50

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top three contributing factors remained consistent year-over-year, all showing an increase in count. 'No improper driving' rose from 11 crashes to 13, 'Failed to yield right of way' increased from 9 crashes to 11, and 'Inattention' grew from 7 crashes to 10. Conversely, 'Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road' decreased from 3 crashes to 1, and 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' went from 2 crashes to 1.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving13 (19.4%)18.2%prior 11
Failed to yield right of way11 (16.4%)22.2%prior 9
Inattention10 (14.9%)42.9%prior 7
Followed too closely4 (6%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (4.5%)
Made an improper turn3 (4.5%)
Other improper action2 (3%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings2 (3%)
Driving too fast for conditions2 (3%)
Distracted1 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in rainy conditions saw a notable increase, rising from 2 incidents in May 2023 to 10 incidents in May 2024. Correspondingly, crashes on wet road surfaces increased substantially from 1 incident in May 2023 to 11 incidents in May 2024. The proportion of crashes occurring in clear weather conditions slightly decreased from 74.5% to 71.6%, while daylight crashes increased from 83.6% to 86.6% of the total.

Weather

Clear48 (71.6%)
17.1%prior 41
Clear/Clear6 (9.0%)
-25.0%prior 8
Rain6 (9.0%)
Rain/Cloudy2 (3.0%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (1.5%)
Rain/Rain1 (1.5%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (1.5%)
Cloudy1 (1.5%)
Cloudy/Fog, smog, smoke1 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight58 (86.6%)
26.1%prior 46
Dark - lighted roadway6 (9.0%)
20.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted2 (3.0%)
Dawn1 (1.5%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry56 (83.6%)
3.7%prior 54
Wet11 (16.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Toyota remained the top vehicle make involved in crashes, increasing from 19 to 28 vehicles year-over-year, while Honda rose from 10 to 17 vehicles. Significant shifts in person demographics were observed, with the 26-34 age group seeing an increase from 13 to 30 persons involved in crashes, and the 35-44 age group increasing from 18 to 35 persons. The 45-54 age group, however, decreased from 18 to 15 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (128 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA28 (21.9%)
47.4%prior 19
2
HONDA17 (13.3%)
70.0%prior 10
3
CHEVROLET11 (8.6%)
57.1%prior 7
4
FORD10 (7.8%)
-9.1%prior 11
5
JEEP8 (6.3%)
6
SUBARU8 (6.3%)
7
HYUNDAI6 (4.7%)
8
GMC5 (3.9%)
0.0%prior 5
9
NISSAN5 (3.9%)
-16.7%prior 6
10
VOLVO3 (2.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (152 persons with recorded sex)

Female78 (51.3%)
66.0%prior 47
Male73 (48.0%)
12.3%prior 65
X / Unspecified1 (0.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 40 mph speed zones increased from 7 in May 2023 to 12 in May 2024, and crashes in 65 mph zones rose from 5 to 6. Conversely, crashes in 35 mph speed zones decreased from 6 to 2. A crash in a 15 mph zone was recorded in May 2024, which was not present in the prior period. Fatal rates remained at 0 for all speed zones in both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31 · 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: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-05-01 through 2024-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SHREWSBURY, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 67
  • Total persons involved: 159
  • Total vehicles involved: 128

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). "SHREWSBURY, MA Crash Intelligence Report: May 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-05-01 to 2024-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/shrewsbury/may-2024-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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Shrewsbury, MA Crash Report — May 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com