ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · SOMERVILLE, MA · APRIL 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/somerville/april-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
50 CRASHES IN
SOMERVILLE, MA
APRIL 2023
In April 2023, Somerville experienced 50 crashes, a 6.4% increase compared to the 47 crashes recorded in April 2022. Total injuries decreased by 16.7%, from 24 to 20. The most notable shift was the increase in pedestrian crashes, rising from 0 in April 2022 to 2 in April 2023.
50
▲ 6.4%was 47
Total Crash Events
0
Persons Killed
20
▼ -16.7%was 24
Persons Injured
2
▲ 100.0%was 1
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 · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, total crashes in Somerville saw a slight increase, rising by 3 crashes or 6.4% year-over-year. Despite this increase in crash events, the total number of injuries decreased from 24 to 20, representing a 16.7% reduction. Fatalities remained at zero in both periods.
2
Hit-and-Run Crashes — April 2023
▲ 100.0% vs prior (1)
Hit-and-run crashes increased by 100% year-over-year, rising from 1 crash in April 2022 to 2 crashes in April 2023. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate increased from 2.1% of total crashes to 4% of total crashes. This indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
2
Cyclists Injured
16
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · 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 year-over-year, with the peak day moving from Friday in April 2022 (11 crashes) to Saturday in April 2023 (14 crashes). The peak crash hour also changed, occurring at 4 PM with 7 crashes in April 2022, and shifting to 9 PM with 5 crashes in April 2023.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes remained at zero in both April 2022 and April 2023. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injury (code B) increased from 19.1% to 22%, with the count rising from 9 to 11. Conversely, crashes with possible injury (code C) decreased from 19.1% (9 crashes) to 8% (4 crashes), while crashes with no injury increased from 61.7% (29 crashes) to 68% (34 crashes).
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factor, 'No improper driving,' increased by 6 crashes from 8 in April 2022 to 14 in April 2023. 'Failed to yield right of way' decreased by 4 crashes, from 7 to 3, causing its ranking to drop. 'Followed too closely' increased slightly from 5 to 6 crashes, while 'Inattention' decreased from 4 to 3 crashes.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring on dry road surfaces remained the majority, increasing from 45 in April 2022 to 46 in April 2023. The number of crashes on wet road surfaces doubled, rising from 2 to 4. Crashes during daylight increased from 30 to 35, while those in dark-lighted roadway conditions decreased from 17 to 14.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 93 to 100 year-over-year. Toyota, while remaining a top make, saw its count decrease from 20 to 18, while Honda experienced a significant increase from 9 to 17 vehicles. The 35-44 age group showed a notable increase in persons involved, rising from 15 to 24, whereas the 55-64 age group decreased from 15 to 11 persons.
Top Vehicle Makes (100 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Vehicle unit records
33 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (111 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
There was a notable decrease in crashes occurring in the 55 mph speed zone, falling from 11 in April 2022 to 4 in April 2023. Crashes in the 25 mph zone increased from 20 to 25. All other speed zones (20 mph, 30 mph, 35 mph) saw slight increases in crash counts, and no fatal crashes were recorded in any speed zone during either period.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30 · 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: 2023-04-01 through 2023-04-30
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-04-01 through 2023-04-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: SOMERVILLE, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 50
- Total persons involved: 142
- Total vehicles involved: 100
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: April 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2023-04-30. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/somerville/april-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-04-01 – 2023-04-30
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved