Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

56 CRASHES IN
SOMERVILLE, MA
JULY 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2022

Total crashes in Somerville for July 2023 were 56, a 36.6% increase compared to 41 crashes in July 2022. The number of crashes with "No improper driving" as a contributing factor doubled from 8 to 16 year-over-year, indicating a significant shift in reported crash circumstances.

56

36.6%was 41

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

16

-15.8%was 19

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 · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash incidents in Somerville increased by 36.6%, from 41 crashes in July 2022 to 56 crashes in July 2023. Despite this rise in total crashes, the number of injuries decreased from 19 to 16 during the same period. Fatalities remained at zero in both July 2022 and July 2023.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2023

100.0% vs prior (1)

Hit-and-run crashes increased from 1 in July 2022 to 2 in July 2023. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate rose from 2.4% to 3.6% year-over-year. This indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.

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%

2

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 1100.0%

10

Motorists Injured

Prior: 17-41.2%

1

Other Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · 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 from Wednesday (12 crashes) in July 2022 to Monday (13 crashes) in July 2023. The peak crash hour also changed, moving from 5 PM (5 crashes) in July 2022 to 4 PM (8 crashes) in July 2023. This indicates a shift in the most frequent crash times year-over-year.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crash rates remained at 0% in both July 2022 and July 2023. While overall injuries decreased from 19 to 16, serious injury crashes (severity A) were reported in July 2023 with 4 incidents, compared to none in July 2022. Conversely, minor injury crashes (severity B) saw a decrease from 12 (29.3% share of crashes) to 5 (8.9% share of crashes) year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury4serious injury crashes7.1%
Minor Injury5minor injury crashes8.9%
-58.3%prior 12
Possible Injury7possible injury crashes12.5%
75.0%prior 4
No Injury39no injury crashes69.6%
56.0%prior 25

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Crashes attributed to "No improper driving" increased from 8 to 16, representing a 100% rise in count year-over-year. Similarly, "Failed to yield right of way" incidents doubled from 5 to 10 crashes. "Followed too closely" remained constant with 5 crashes in both periods, while "Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings" decreased from 4 crashes to 1.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving16 (28.6%)100.0%prior 8
Failed to yield right of way10 (17.9%)100.0%prior 5
Followed too closely5 (8.9%)0.0%prior 5
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road3 (5.4%)
Inattention2 (3.6%)
Made an improper turn2 (3.6%)
Illness1 (1.8%)
Distracted1 (1.8%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (1.8%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings1 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in "Daylight" conditions increased from 34 in July 2022 to 43 in July 2023. Incidents in "Dark - lighted roadway" also doubled, rising from 5 to 10 crashes year-over-year. There was a notable increase in rain-related conditions, with 11 crashes in July 2023 compared to none in July 2022.

Weather

Clear28 (50.9%)
-9.7%prior 31
Clear/Clear10 (18.2%)
Rain8 (14.5%)
Cloudy6 (10.9%)
-14.3%prior 7
Cloudy/Rain2 (3.6%)
Rain/Rain1 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight43 (76.8%)
26.5%prior 34
Dark - lighted roadway10 (17.9%)
100.0%prior 5
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (1.8%)
Dawn1 (1.8%)
Dusk1 (1.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry45 (80.4%)
Wet11 (19.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes increased from 77 in July 2022 to 94 in July 2023. Toyota vehicles involved in crashes doubled from 9 to 18, and Chevrolet vehicles increased significantly from 2 to 13. The 21-25 age group saw a substantial increase in persons involved, rising from 5 to 17 year-over-year.

Top Vehicle Makes (94 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA18 (19.1%)
100.0%prior 9
2
HONDA16 (17%)
23.1%prior 13
3
CHEVROLET13 (13.8%)
4
FORD9 (9.6%)
0.0%prior 9
5
SUBARU4 (4.3%)
6
NISSAN4 (4.3%)
-55.6%prior 9
7
HYUNDAI3 (3.2%)
8
JEEP3 (3.2%)
9
AUDI2 (2.1%)
10
KIA2 (2.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (115 persons with recorded sex)

Male70 (60.9%)
20.7%prior 58
Female45 (39.1%)
45.2%prior 31

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 20 mph speed zones increased by 150%, from 6 incidents in July 2022 to 15 in July 2023. Crashes in 25 mph zones also rose from 17 to 22, an increase of 29.4%. Conversely, crashes in 55 mph zones decreased by 50%, from 8 to 4 incidents.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · 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: 2023-07-01 through 2023-07-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-07-01 through 2023-07-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SOMERVILLE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 56
  • Total persons involved: 138
  • Total vehicles involved: 94

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: July 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/somerville/july-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

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Somerville, MA Crash Report — July 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com