ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MASSACHUSETTS, MA · AUGUST 2022
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/statewide/august-2022-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
10,571 CRASHES IN
MASSACHUSETTS, MA
AUGUST 2022
In August 2022, there were 10,571 total crashes, a 1.7% decrease from the 10,759 crashes recorded in August 2021. While overall crashes, injuries, and fatalities saw a slight decline, the number of hit-and-run incidents increased by 15.1% year-over-year, from 769 to 885.
10,571
▼ -1.7%was 10,759
Total Crash Events
48
▼ -2.0%was 49
Persons Killed
3,561
▼ -2.3%was 3,643
Persons Injured
885
▲ 15.1%was 769
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (48) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (47) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 968 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crash trends showed a slight decline in August 2022 compared to the same month in the prior year. Total crashes decreased by 1.7%, from 10,759 to 10,571. Similarly, total injuries dropped by 2.3% (from 3,643 to 3,561) and fatalities decreased by one person (from 49 to 48).
885
Hit-and-Run Crashes — August 2022
▲ 15.1% vs prior (769)
Hit-and-run incidents increased significantly in August 2022 compared to the same month in 2021. The total number of hit-and-run crashes rose by 15.1%, from 769 to 885. This increase outpaced the overall crash trend, causing the hit-and-run rate to climb from 7.1% to 8.4% of all crashes.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
11
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
36
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
112
Pedestrians Injured
143
Cyclists Injured
3,290
Motorists Injured
16
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes remained largely consistent year-over-year. The peak day for crashes in both August 2022 and August 2021 was Tuesday, with 1,742 and 1,808 incidents, respectively. The peak hour also held steady at the 4 p.m. hour in both periods. While the overall weekly pattern did not change, there was a redistribution of crashes, with Monday and Wednesday seeing more incidents in 2022 compared to 2021, while Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday saw fewer.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While total crashes declined, the severity of those crashes increased in August 2022 compared to the prior year. The fatal crash rate rose from 0.41% to 0.44%, with the number of fatal crashes increasing from 44 to 47. The count of serious injury crashes also grew from 200 to 243, causing the proportion of crashes resulting in serious injury to rise from 1.9% to 2.3% of all incidents.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 47 fatal crash events resulted in 48 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The primary contributing factors cited in crashes remained consistent between August 2021 and August 2022, with the top five factors maintaining their rank. 'Inattention' remained a leading cause, though its count decreased slightly from 1,646 to 1,614 incidents. Similarly, crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' (1,007 from 1,057) and 'Followed too closely' (991 from 1,053) also saw modest declines in count. In contrast, crashes where 'Exceeded authorized speed limit' was a factor increased by 10.6%, from 113 to 125 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crash conditions in August 2022 were reported as clearer and drier compared to August 2021. The number of crashes occurring in rain dropped from 613 to 367, and incidents on wet road surfaces decreased from 1,245 to 837. Consequently, the proportion of total crashes on wet roads fell from 11.6% in 2021 to 7.9% in 2022. Lighting conditions remained stable, with daylight crashes accounting for over 75% of all incidents in both periods.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top three vehicle makes involved in crashes—Toyota, Honda, and Ford—remained unchanged in August 2022 compared to the previous year, with counts for each decreasing slightly in line with the overall trend. Analysis of persons involved in crashes reveals a demographic shift, with an increase in the involvement of older individuals. The number of persons aged 65 and older involved in crashes grew from 2,417 to 2,663, and their share of the total rose from 9.6% in 2021 to 10.9% in 2022.
Top Vehicle Makes (19,639 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Vehicle unit records
3,019 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (20,939 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The distribution of crashes across different speed zones remained relatively stable, with a slight shift away from higher speed zones. Crashes in zones 55 mph and above decreased from 1,390 to 1,232 year-over-year. However, the lethality of crashes in high-speed zones increased notably. In the 65 mph speed zone, the number of fatal crashes doubled from 4 to 8, causing the fatal crash rate for that zone to more than double from 0.52% in August 2021 to 1.20% in August 2022.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 3 of 1,972 (0.152%) · 30 mph: 14 of 2,764 (0.507%) · 35 mph: 3 of 1,437 (0.209%) · 40 mph: 2 of 744 (0.269%) · 45 mph: 3 of 376 (0.798%) · 50 mph: 4 of 216 (1.852%) · 55 mph: 4 of 517 (0.774%) · 65 mph: 8 of 666 (1.201%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31 · 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: 2022-08-01 through 2022-08-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-08-01 through 2022-08-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: massachusetts, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 10,571
- Total persons involved: 24,382
- Total vehicles involved: 19,639
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). "massachusetts, MA Crash Intelligence Report: August 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/statewide/august-2022-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2022-08-01 – 2022-08-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved