Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

35 CRASHES IN
SOUTHBRIDGE, MA
JANUARY 2025

All metrics benchmarked againstJanuary 2024

Total crashes in Southbridge decreased by 35.2% year-over-year, from 54 crashes in January 2024 to 35 crashes in January 2025. A notable shift was the increase in DUI crashes, which rose from 0 in the prior period to 2 in the current period. This overall reduction in crash events was accompanied by a significant drop in total injuries.

35

-35.2%was 54

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

5

-58.3%was 12

Persons Injured

2

-60.0%was 5

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 · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall crash trends in Southbridge show a significant decrease year-over-year. Total crashes fell by 35.2%, from 54 in January 2024 to 35 in January 2025. Concurrently, total injuries decreased by 58.3%, from 12 to 5, while fatalities remained at 0 in both periods.

2

Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2025

-60.0% vs prior (5)

Hit-and-run crashes decreased by 60% year-over-year, from 5 crashes in January 2024 to 2 crashes in January 2025. This resulted in a decrease in the hit-and-run rate from 9.3% in the prior period to 5.7% in the current period.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

1

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 0%

4

Motorists Injured

Prior: 12-66.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31 · 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. In January 2024, the peak crash days were Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with 11 crashes each, whereas in January 2025, Monday and Friday were the peak days with 8 crashes each. The peak crash hour also changed, moving from 1 PM with 6 crashes in the prior period to 5 PM with 4 crashes in the current period.

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

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

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatalities remained consistent at 0 in both January 2024 and January 2025. Total injuries saw a substantial decrease of 58.3%, falling from 12 injuries in the prior period to 5 in the current period. Specifically, minor injuries decreased from 8 to 2, while serious injuries remained at 1 in both periods.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes2.9%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury2minor injury crashes5.7%
-75.0%prior 8
Possible Injury1possible injury crashes2.9%
No Injury30no injury crashes85.7%
-25.0%prior 40

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

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

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

Top Contributing Factors

Several contributing factors saw notable changes in crash counts year-over-year. Crashes attributed to "No improper driving" decreased by 3, from 14 to 11, while "Inattention" related crashes also decreased by 3, from 10 to 7. Conversely, crashes where "Failed to yield right of way" was a factor increased by 3, from 2 to 5, and "Followed too closely" related crashes doubled from 1 to 2.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving11 (31.4%)-21.4%prior 14
Inattention7 (20%)-30.0%prior 10
Failed to yield right of way5 (14.3%)
Followed too closely2 (5.7%)
Other improper action1 (2.9%)
Physical impairment1 (2.9%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway1 (2.9%)
Made an improper turn1 (2.9%)
Driving too fast for conditions1 (2.9%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (2.9%)

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

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crash conditions showed shifts, particularly regarding road surface. The number of crashes on snowy road surfaces decreased significantly from 12 in January 2024 to 2 in January 2025, and crashes on wet surfaces also decreased from 9 to 6. Conversely, crashes during rainy weather increased from 1 to 5, and crashes on dry roads increased by 1 from 24 to 25.

Weather

Clear23 (67.6%)
-8.0%prior 25
Rain5 (14.7%)
Cloudy2 (5.9%)
-77.8%prior 9
Snow1 (2.9%)
Snow/Blowing sand, snow1 (2.9%)
Severe crosswinds1 (2.9%)
Sleet, hail (freezing rain or drizzle)1 (2.9%)

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

Lighting

Daylight21 (61.8%)
-32.3%prior 31
Dark - lighted roadway11 (32.4%)
-21.4%prior 14
Dark - roadway not lighted1 (2.9%)
Dusk1 (2.9%)

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

Road Surface

Dry25 (73.5%)
4.2%prior 24
Wet6 (17.6%)
-33.3%prior 9
Snow2 (5.9%)
-83.3%prior 12
Slush1 (2.9%)
-80.0%prior 5

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

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 95 in January 2024 to 68 in January 2025. While Toyota and Ford remained among the top makes involved, crashes involving Honda vehicles decreased by 6 (from 9 to 3), and Chevrolet vehicles decreased by 6 (from 8 to 2). The age distribution of persons involved saw the 35-44 age group experience a decrease of 15 persons (from 22 to 7), and the 0-15 age group was not present in the current period compared to 17 persons in the prior period.

Top Vehicle Makes (68 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA11 (16.2%)
-26.7%prior 15
2
FORD11 (16.2%)
0.0%prior 11
3
NISSAN8 (11.8%)
-11.1%prior 9
4
JEEP7 (10.3%)
16.7%prior 6
5
SUBARU3 (4.4%)
-50.0%prior 6
6
DODGE3 (4.4%)
7
HONDA3 (4.4%)
-66.7%prior 9
8
MAZDA2 (2.9%)
9
MITS2 (2.9%)
10
CHEVROLET2 (2.9%)
-75.0%prior 8

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

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

Sex Distribution (60 persons with recorded sex)

Male37 (61.7%)
-27.5%prior 51
Female23 (38.3%)
-56.6%prior 53

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

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in speed zones of 25 mph increased from 20 in January 2024 to 24 in January 2025. In contrast, crashes in 30 mph zones decreased significantly from 19 to 2, and crashes in 35 mph zones decreased from 5 to 2. 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 2025-01-31 · 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 2025-01-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-01-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SOUTHBRIDGE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 35
  • Total persons involved: 73
  • Total vehicles involved: 68

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