Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

163 CRASHES IN
SPRINGFIELD, MA
OCTOBER 2024

All metrics benchmarked againstOctober 2023

Total crashes in October 2024 were 163, a significant decrease from the 421 crashes reported in October 2023, representing a 61.3% reduction. The most notable year-over-year shift is the complete absence of fatalities in the current period, down from 3 fatalities in the prior period. This period saw a substantial overall reduction in crash incidents and their severity.

163

-61.3%was 421

Total Crash Events

0

-100.0%was 3

Persons Killed

92

-57.4%was 216

Persons Injured

42

2.4%was 41

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. 8 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, the crash data indicates a strong downward trend year-over-year, with total crashes decreasing by 61.3% from 421 to 163. This reduction is also reflected in total fatalities, which dropped from 3 to 0, and total injuries, which fell from 216 to 92.

42

Hit-and-Run Crashes — October 2024

2.4% vs prior (41)

The number of hit-and-run crashes remained relatively stable, with 42 in the current period compared to 41 in the prior period. However, due to a significant decrease in total crashes, the hit-and-run rate more than doubled, rising from 9.7% to 25.8% year-over-year.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 1-100.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 2-100.0%

4

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 12-66.7%

1

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 3-66.7%

87

Motorists Injured

Prior: 201-56.7%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · 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 Monday (90 crashes) in the prior period to Sunday (29 crashes) in the current period. The peak hour also shifted from 4 PM (43 crashes) in the prior period to 3 PM (18 crashes) in the current period. These changes reflect a general decrease in crash counts across all days and hours.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Fatal crashes decreased from 3 in the prior period to 0 in the current period, resulting in a fatal crash rate reduction from 0.71% to 0%. Serious injuries (Severity A) also decreased significantly, from 9 in the prior period to 1 in the current period, while minor injuries (Severity B) decreased from 86 to 40. The proportion of minor injuries relative to total crashes increased slightly from 20.4% to 24.5% year-over-year.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes0.6%
-88.9%prior 9
Minor Injury40minor injury crashes24.5%
-53.5%prior 86
Possible Injury23possible injury crashes14.1%
-50.0%prior 46
No Injury91no injury crashes55.8%
-64.3%prior 255

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The top contributing factor shifted from 'Inattention' (95 crashes) in the prior period to 'No improper driving' (31 crashes) in the current period. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' decreased by 65 counts, from 95 to 30. 'Failed to yield right of way' also saw a decrease of 43 counts, from 67 to 24 crashes.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving31 (19%)-57.5%prior 73
Inattention30 (18.4%)-68.4%prior 95
Failed to yield right of way24 (14.7%)-64.2%prior 67
Followed too closely15 (9.2%)-34.8%prior 23
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road14 (8.6%)-50.0%prior 28
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings6 (3.7%)-66.7%prior 18
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner5 (3.1%)-44.4%prior 9
Made an improper turn5 (3.1%)-37.5%prior 8
Other improper action3 (1.8%)-80.0%prior 15
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway3 (1.8%)-57.1%prior 7

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The proportion of crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 72.7% in the prior period to 94.5% in the current period. Correspondingly, crashes on wet road surfaces decreased from 94 (22.3% share) to 12 (7.4% share). Crashes in daylight conditions decreased in count from 262 to 103, while those in dark-lighted roadway conditions decreased from 121 to 45.

Weather

Clear126 (77.3%)
-58.8%prior 306
Clear/Clear25 (15.3%)
Rain4 (2.5%)
-93.5%prior 62
Cloudy3 (1.8%)
-82.4%prior 17
Clear/Other2 (1.2%)
Clear/Unknown1 (0.6%)
Cloudy/Cloudy1 (0.6%)
Other/Other1 (0.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight103 (63.2%)
-60.7%prior 262
Dark - lighted roadway45 (27.6%)
-62.8%prior 121
Dusk7 (4.3%)
-65.0%prior 20
Dark - roadway not lighted4 (2.5%)
-60.0%prior 10
Dark - unknown roadway lighting2 (1.2%)
Dawn2 (1.2%)
-60.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry150 (92.6%)
-54.1%prior 327
Wet12 (7.4%)
-87.2%prior 94

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of persons involved in crashes decreased from 1097 to 435 year-over-year. All age groups saw a decrease in the number of involved persons, with the 26-34 and 35-44 age groups experiencing the largest drops of 112 persons each. Honda remained the top vehicle make involved, though its count decreased from 116 to 43.

Top Vehicle Makes (329 vehicles)

1
HONDA43 (13.1%)
-62.9%prior 116
2
TOYOTA42 (12.8%)
-57.6%prior 99
3
HYUNDAI30 (9.1%)
-51.6%prior 62
4
CHEVROLET24 (7.3%)
-47.8%prior 46
5
NISSAN23 (7%)
-70.1%prior 77
6
FORD15 (4.6%)
-77.9%prior 68
7
MAZDA11 (3.3%)
-8.3%prior 12
8
KIA10 (3%)
-37.5%prior 16
9
ACURA10 (3%)
-72.2%prior 36
10
MERCEDES-BENZ8 (2.4%)
-42.9%prior 14

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (359 persons with recorded sex)

Male198 (55.2%)
-59.2%prior 485
Female161 (44.8%)
-65.3%prior 464

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The number of crashes across all speed limit zones decreased year-over-year, with the 30 mph zone seeing the highest number of crashes in both periods, decreasing from 134 to 47. Fatal crashes, which were present in the 30 mph and 35 mph zones in the prior period, were entirely absent in all speed zones in the current period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31 · 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: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2024-10-01 through 2024-10-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SPRINGFIELD, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 163
  • Total persons involved: 435
  • Total vehicles involved: 329

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). "SPRINGFIELD, MA Crash Intelligence Report: October 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/springfield/october-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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Springfield, MA Crash Report — October 2024 | ThatCarHitMe.com