Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

12 CRASHES IN
SOUTH HADLEY, MA
MARCH 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstMarch 2023

Total crashes in South Hadley decreased by 25%, from 16 in March 2023 to 12 in March 2024. Total injuries also saw a significant reduction, dropping by 50% from 6 to 3. Notably, speeding-related crashes, which accounted for 4 incidents in the prior period, were not reported in the current period.

12

-25.0%was 16

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

3

-50.0%was 6

Persons Injured

0

Fatal Crash Events

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.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash data for March shows a positive trend, with total crashes decreasing by 25% from 16 to 12 year-over-year. Concurrently, total injuries experienced a 50% reduction, falling from 6 in March 2023 to 3 in March 2024, indicating an improvement in safety metrics.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

2

Motorists Injured

Prior: 6-66.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · 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 Thursday in March 2023 to Wednesday in March 2024, with both days recording 4 crashes. The peak hour for crashes also changed, moving from 2 p.m. with 3 crashes in the prior period to 5 p.m. with 2 crashes in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes remained at 0 in both March 2023 and March 2024. The number of serious injuries (A) remained constant at 1 in both periods, while minor injuries (B) also stayed at 2. However, possible injury (C) crashes, which accounted for 2 incidents in the prior period, were not reported in the current period.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes8.3%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes16.7%
0.0%prior 2
No Injury9no injury crashes75%
-18.2%prior 11

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

Contributing factors saw shifts, with 'Followed too closely' increasing by 2 crashes (from 1 to 3) and 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' also increasing by 2 crashes (from 1 to 3). Conversely, 'Inattention' decreased by 1 crash (from 3 to 2), and speeding-related factors like 'Driving too fast for conditions' and 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' decreased by 2 crashes each, dropping from 2 incidents in the prior period to 0 in the current period.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

Followed too closely3 (25%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner3 (25%)
Inattention2 (16.7%)
No improper driving2 (16.7%)
Other improper action1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased by 2, from 10 in March 2023 to 8 in March 2024, while crashes in adverse weather (rain, snow, sleet) decreased by 1, from 3 to 2. Similarly, crashes on dry road surfaces decreased by 2 (from 12 to 10), and those on adverse surfaces (snow, wet) decreased by 2 (from 4 to 2). Crashes during daylight decreased by 2 (from 11 to 9), and those in dark-lighted roadway conditions also decreased by 2 (from 5 to 3).

Weather

Clear8 (66.7%)
-20.0%prior 10
Cloudy2 (16.7%)
Cloudy/Rain1 (8.3%)
Rain1 (8.3%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight9 (75.0%)
-18.2%prior 11
Dark - lighted roadway3 (25.0%)
-40.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry10 (83.3%)
-16.7%prior 12
Wet2 (16.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (25 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA4 (16%)
2
FORD3 (12%)
3
HONDA2 (8%)
-60.0%prior 5
4
HYUNDAI2 (8%)
5
KIA2 (8%)
6
SUBARU2 (8%)
7
NISSAN2 (8%)
8
ACURA1 (4%)
9
YAMA1 (4%)
10
CHEVROLET1 (4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (24 persons with recorded sex)

Female12 (50.0%)
33.3%prior 9
Male12 (50.0%)
-33.3%prior 18

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 25 mph zones decreased by 3 (from 5 to 2), and in 30 mph zones by 2 (from 6 to 4). Conversely, crashes in 40 mph zones increased by 1 (from 3 to 4). A crash in a 15 mph zone was reported in the current period, which was not present in the prior period, while 35 mph zones, which had 2 crashes previously, had none in the current period. Fatal rates remained at 0 in all speed zones for both periods.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · 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: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SOUTH HADLEY, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 12
  • Total persons involved: 31
  • Total vehicles involved: 25

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). "SOUTH HADLEY, MA Crash Intelligence Report: March 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/south-hadley/march-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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South Hadley, MA Crash Report — March 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com