Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

434 CRASHES IN
SOMERSET, MA
2024

All metrics benchmarked against2023

In 2024, Somerset recorded 434 total traffic crashes, a 7.5% decrease from the 469 crashes in 2023. While overall crashes and injuries declined, the number of fatal crashes increased from 3 to 5, and the fatal crash rate rose from 0.64 to 1.15 per 100 crashes. Total fatalities decreased from 6 to 5.

434

-7.5%was 469

Total Crash Events

5

-16.7%was 6

Persons Killed

133

-16.9%was 160

Persons Injured

26

-7.1%was 28

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (5) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (5) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 8 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

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

The overall trend in traffic crashes shows a decline year-over-year. Total crashes fell by 7.5%, from 469 to 434. Similarly, the number of people injured decreased by 16.9%, from 160 in the prior year to 133 in the current year.

26

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2024

-7.1% vs prior (28)

The number of hit-and-run incidents saw a slight decrease, from 28 in the prior year to 26 in the current year. When measured as a proportion of all crashes, the hit-and-run rate remained stable at 6.0% for both periods.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

1

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 0%

4

Motorists Killed

Prior: 5-20.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 3-33.3%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 3-33.3%

127

Motorists Injured

Prior: 154-17.5%

2

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

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. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (85 crashes) in the prior year to Saturday (76 crashes) in the current year. The peak hour also shifted later, from 2 p.m. (43 crashes) in 2023 to 4 p.m. (47 crashes) in 2024.

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

While total crashes decreased, the severity profile shifted year-over-year. The number of fatal crashes increased from 3 to 5, causing the fatal crash rate per 100 incidents to rise from 0.64 to 1.15. Conversely, crashes involving serious injuries dropped from 11 to 3. The proportion of crashes resulting in no injury increased from 71.9% to 74.4% of all incidents.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal5fatal crashes1.2%
66.7%prior 3
Serious Injury3serious injury crashes0.7%
-72.7%prior 11
Minor Injury66minor injury crashes15.2%
-19.5%prior 82
Possible Injury29possible injury crashes6.7%
11.5%prior 26
No Injury323no injury crashes74.4%
-4.2%prior 337

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 factors remained consistent, with 'Inattention' and 'Failed to yield right of way' as the top two in both periods. The count for crashes attributed to 'Inattention' decreased from 88 to 83, while those for 'Failed to yield right of way' dropped from 87 to 73. The top three factors did not change rank, and their incident counts generally decreased, reflecting the overall reduction in crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Inattention83 (19.1%)-5.7%prior 88
Failed to yield right of way73 (16.8%)-16.1%prior 87
No improper driving69 (15.9%)-6.8%prior 74
Followed too closely64 (14.7%)-7.2%prior 69
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road26 (6%)-13.3%prior 30
Other improper action21 (4.8%)50.0%prior 14
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings19 (4.4%)35.7%prior 14
Made an improper turn16 (3.7%)100.0%prior 8
Driving too fast for conditions8 (1.8%)-27.3%prior 11
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner7 (1.6%)16.7%prior 6

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

The distribution of crashes across different environmental conditions remained largely stable year-over-year. In both periods, approximately 73% of crashes occurred during daylight, and about 83% happened on dry road surfaces. There was no significant shift in the proportion of crashes occurring in adverse weather, lighting, or road surface conditions.

Weather

Clear343 (79.6%)
-6.3%prior 366
Cloudy30 (7.0%)
0.0%prior 30
Rain26 (6.0%)
-25.7%prior 35
Cloudy/Rain14 (3.2%)
7.7%prior 13
Snow5 (1.2%)
Clear/Clear4 (0.9%)
Clear/Other2 (0.5%)
-71.4%prior 7
Rain/Severe crosswinds1 (0.2%)
Severe crosswinds/Rain1 (0.2%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight318 (73.6%)
-7.6%prior 344
Dark - lighted roadway78 (18.1%)
-17.9%prior 95
Dusk18 (4.2%)
260.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted15 (3.5%)
36.4%prior 11
Other2 (0.5%)
Dawn1 (0.2%)
-87.5%prior 8

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry362 (84.0%)
-7.7%prior 392
Wet60 (13.9%)
-9.1%prior 66
Snow6 (1.4%)
Ice2 (0.5%)
Slush1 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Vehicle involvement shows minor shifts between periods. Toyota remained the most frequently involved make in both years, with its count decreasing from 144 to 137. Ford's involvement increased from 72 to 79 vehicles, making it the second most common make alongside Honda in the current period. Among persons involved in crashes, the 26-34 age group saw an increase from 138 to 147 individuals, while most other age groups saw a decrease.

Top Vehicle Makes (820 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA137 (16.7%)
-4.9%prior 144
2
HONDA79 (9.6%)
-18.6%prior 97
3
FORD79 (9.6%)
9.7%prior 72
4
CHEVROLET59 (7.2%)
5.4%prior 56
5
KIA48 (5.9%)
37.1%prior 35
6
HYUNDAI43 (5.2%)
0.0%prior 43
7
NISSAN41 (5%)
-32.8%prior 61
8
JEEP36 (4.4%)
-23.4%prior 47
9
SUBARU34 (4.1%)
25.9%prior 27
10
VOLKSWAGEN28 (3.4%)
55.6%prior 18

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (884 persons with recorded sex)

Male459 (51.9%)
-13.1%prior 528
Female425 (48.1%)
0.0%prior 425

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

The distribution of crashes by speed limit showed notable changes in fatal outcomes. While total crashes in 30 mph zones were stable (198 to 192), this zone recorded two fatal crashes in the current period compared to zero previously. Similarly, the 65 mph zone saw two fatal crashes out of 20 total incidents, whereas the prior period had zero fatalities among 23 crashes in that zone.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 2 of 192 (1.042%) · 45 mph: 1 of 25 (4%) · 65 mph: 2 of 20 (10%)

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: SOMERSET, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 434
  • Total persons involved: 1,001
  • Total vehicles involved: 820

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). "SOMERSET, 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/somerset/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

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Somerset, MA Crash Report — 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com