Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

525 CRASHES IN
SOMERVILLE, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In Somerville, total traffic crashes decreased by 16.3% from 627 in 2024 to 525 in 2025. The number of people injured also fell from 239 to 188, with no fatalities reported in either period. The most notable year-over-year change was a significant increase in hit-and-run incidents, which rose by 80% from 30 to 54 crashes.

525

-16.3%was 627

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

188

-21.3%was 239

Persons Injured

54

80.0%was 30

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. 26 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

The overall trend in traffic incidents shows a year-over-year decline. Total crashes in Somerville fell by 16.3%, from 627 in 2024 to 525 in 2025. In line with this trend, the total number of injuries decreased by 21.3% from 239 to 188, while fatalities remained at zero for both years.

54

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

80.0% vs prior (30)

Hit-and-run incidents showed a significant upward trend. The number of hit-and-run crashes increased by 80%, from 30 in 2024 to 54 in 2025. As a result, the hit-and-run rate more than doubled, climbing from 4.8% of all crashes in the prior year to 10.3% in the current year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Other Killed

Prior: 00.0%

26

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 248.3%

31

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 37-16.2%

126

Motorists Injured

Prior: 161-21.7%

5

Other Injured

Prior: 17-70.6%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

A comparison of crash timing reveals shifts in daily and hourly patterns. In 2025, Wednesday became the peak day for crashes with 99 incidents, shifting from Monday (106 crashes) in the prior year. The peak hour for crashes also moved from the 8 AM morning commute in 2024 to the 6 PM evening commute in 2025.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

There were no fatal crashes recorded in either 2025 or 2024. The overall proportion of crashes resulting in an injury of any severity decreased from 33.3% in 2024 to 30.3% in 2025. Crashes involving serious injuries fell from 11 to 5, and those with possible injuries dropped from 84 to 49.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury5serious injury crashes1%
-54.5%prior 11
Minor Injury105minor injury crashes20%
-7.9%prior 114
Possible Injury49possible injury crashes9.3%
-41.7%prior 84
No Injury340no injury crashes64.8%
-15.0%prior 400

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

While "No improper driving" was the most cited factor in both periods, its count fell from 168 to 139. The ranking of other top factors changed, with "Failed to yield right of way" becoming the second most common factor in 2025 (67 incidents), up from third in 2024 (60 incidents). Conversely, crashes attributed to "Followed too closely" decreased from 84 to 58, moving this factor from second to third place.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving139 (26.5%)-17.3%prior 168
Failed to yield right of way67 (12.8%)11.7%prior 60
Followed too closely58 (11%)-31.0%prior 84
Inattention35 (6.7%)0.0%prior 35
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road29 (5.5%)-6.5%prior 31
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings16 (3%)-42.9%prior 28
Other improper action15 (2.9%)-25.0%prior 20
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner11 (2.1%)120.0%prior 5
Made an improper turn11 (2.1%)-15.4%prior 13
Distracted8 (1.5%)-11.1%prior 9

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions remained stable year-over-year, with no significant shifts in distribution. In both 2025 and 2024, the vast majority of crashes occurred in daylight (64.2% and 63.5%, respectively) and on dry road surfaces (81.3% and 81.5%, respectively). The proportion of crashes in dark but lighted conditions was also consistent at approximately 27.5% for both periods.

Weather

Clear234 (44.8%)
-32.8%prior 348
Clear/Clear171 (32.8%)
59.8%prior 107
Cloudy29 (5.6%)
-43.1%prior 51
Cloudy/Cloudy22 (4.2%)
144.4%prior 9
Rain19 (3.6%)
-57.8%prior 45
Rain/Rain16 (3.1%)
45.5%prior 11
Rain/Cloudy7 (1.3%)
Cloudy/Rain5 (1.0%)
-37.5%prior 8
Clear/Cloudy3 (0.6%)
Clear/Unknown3 (0.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight337 (64.7%)
-15.3%prior 398
Dark - lighted roadway144 (27.6%)
-17.2%prior 174
Dusk16 (3.1%)
-27.3%prior 22
Dark - roadway not lighted11 (2.1%)
-15.4%prior 13
Dawn7 (1.3%)
-50.0%prior 14
Dark - unknown roadway lighting4 (0.8%)
-33.3%prior 6
Other2 (0.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry427 (82.1%)
-16.4%prior 511
Wet76 (14.6%)
-19.1%prior 94
Ice10 (1.9%)
Snow6 (1.2%)
-40.0%prior 10
Slush1 (0.2%)
-80.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes were Toyota, Honda, and Ford in both years, with counts for all three decreasing in 2025. The 26-34 age group represented the largest share of persons involved in crashes for both periods, though the count decreased from 322 to 263. The third-largest represented age group shifted from 45-54 in 2024 to 21-25 in 2025.

Top Vehicle Makes (982 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA177 (18%)
-17.3%prior 214
2
HONDA129 (13.1%)
-31.7%prior 189
3
FORD123 (12.5%)
-5.4%prior 130
4
NISSAN51 (5.2%)
-28.2%prior 71
5
SUBARU50 (5.1%)
0.0%prior 50
6
HYUNDAI36 (3.7%)
5.9%prior 34
7
JEEP32 (3.3%)
-31.9%prior 47
8
CHEVROLET28 (2.9%)
-53.3%prior 60
9
KIA26 (2.6%)
-27.8%prior 36
10
VOLKSWAGEN24 (2.4%)
0.0%prior 24

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (1,003 persons with recorded sex)

Male657 (65.5%)
-20.2%prior 823
Female346 (34.5%)
-24.0%prior 455

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The 25 mph speed zone accounted for the highest number of crashes in both years, with counts decreasing from 295 to 266. A notable reduction occurred in 35 mph zones, where crashes fell by 45.7% from 94 incidents in 2024 to 51 in 2025. Conversely, crashes in 20 mph zones saw a slight increase from 103 to 110. No fatalities were recorded in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · 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: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: SOMERVILLE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 525
  • Total persons involved: 1,176
  • Total vehicles involved: 982

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). "SOMERVILLE, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/somerville/2025-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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Somerville, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com