Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

49 CRASHES IN
SOMERVILLE, MA
AUGUST 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstAugust 2023

In August 2024, Somerville experienced 49 total crashes, marking a 17% decrease from the 59 crashes recorded in August 2023. A notable shift was observed in hit-and-run incidents, which rose from 0 in the prior year to 3 in the current period.

49

-16.9%was 59

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

22

10.0%was 20

Persons Injured

3

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 · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash incidents in Somerville show a downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing by 17% from 59 in August 2023 to 49 in August 2024. This represents a reduction of 10 crashes compared to the previous year.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2024

6.1% hit-and-run rate this period vs 0.0% prior. Prior period: 0.

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%

3

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 1200.0%

4

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 6-33.3%

14

Motorists Injured

Prior: 137.7%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Temporal crash patterns shifted year-over-year, with the peak day for crashes moving from Thursday in August 2023 (15 crashes) to Saturday in August 2024 (11 crashes). The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 9 PM (5 crashes) in the prior period to 4 PM (6 crashes) in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained at 0 in both August 2023 and August 2024. However, total injuries saw a slight increase from 20 to 22, with serious injuries doubling from 1 to 2 and minor injuries rising from 9 to 12. Conversely, possible injuries decreased from 8 to 5.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury2serious injury crashes4.1%
100.0%prior 1
Minor Injury12minor injury crashes24.5%
33.3%prior 9
Possible Injury5possible injury crashes10.2%
-37.5%prior 8
No Injury29no injury crashes59.2%
-29.3%prior 41

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Among contributing factors, 'No improper driving' decreased slightly from 14 crashes in August 2023 to 13 crashes in August 2024. Crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' remained constant at 7 incidents in both periods. 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes doubled from 2 to 4, while 'Inattention' crashes increased by one from 3 to 4.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving13 (26.5%)-7.1%prior 14
Followed too closely7 (14.3%)0.0%prior 7
Failed to yield right of way4 (8.2%)
Inattention4 (8.2%)
Other improper action3 (6.1%)
Made an improper turn3 (6.1%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road2 (4.1%)
History heart/epilepsy/fainting1 (2%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (2%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions remained largely consistent, decreasing slightly from 41 to 40 incidents year-over-year. Incidents during daylight hours decreased from 44 to 39, while those on dry road surfaces fell from 53 to 45. Crashes in wet road conditions also decreased, from 6 in August 2023 to 3 in August 2024.

Weather

Clear29 (60.4%)
-9.4%prior 32
Clear/Clear10 (20.8%)
11.1%prior 9
Cloudy4 (8.3%)
-50.0%prior 8
Clear/Unknown1 (2.1%)
Clear/Cloudy1 (2.1%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (2.1%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (2.1%)
Rain1 (2.1%)
-80.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight39 (79.6%)
-11.4%prior 44
Dark - lighted roadway10 (20.4%)
-16.7%prior 12

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry45 (93.8%)
-15.1%prior 53
Wet3 (6.3%)
-50.0%prior 6

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 109 in August 2023 to 88 in August 2024. Notably, Honda surpassed Toyota as the most frequently involved vehicle make, with Honda incidents increasing from 15 to 18, while Toyota incidents decreased significantly from 26 to 14. Nissan also saw an increase from 6 to 8 incidents, while Ford decreased from 9 to 7.

Top Vehicle Makes (88 vehicles)

1
HONDA18 (20.5%)
20.0%prior 15
2
TOYOTA14 (15.9%)
-46.2%prior 26
3
NISSAN8 (9.1%)
33.3%prior 6
4
FORD7 (8%)
-22.2%prior 9
5
CHEVROLET4 (4.5%)
-33.3%prior 6
6
VOLKSWAGEN3 (3.4%)
-40.0%prior 5
7
JEEP3 (3.4%)
-40.0%prior 5
8
ACURA2 (2.3%)
9
HYUNDAI2 (2.3%)
10
LEXUS2 (2.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (114 persons with recorded sex)

Male73 (64.0%)
-7.6%prior 79
Female41 (36.0%)
24.2%prior 33

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

No fatalities were recorded in any speed zone during either period. Crashes in 20 mph zones decreased by 7, from 14 in August 2023 to 7 in August 2024, while crashes in 25 mph zones saw a slight increase from 23 to 25. Crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 10 to 9, and crashes in 15 mph and 50 mph zones, present in the prior period, were not recorded in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31 · 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: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-08-01 through 2024-08-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SOMERVILLE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 49
  • Total persons involved: 118
  • Total vehicles involved: 88

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: August 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-08-01 to 2024-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/somerville/august-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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Somerville, MA Crash Report — August 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com