ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MASSACHUSETTS, MA · JANUARY 2023
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/january-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
11,081 CRASHES IN
MASSACHUSETTS, MA
JANUARY 2023
In January 2023, there were 11,081 total crashes, a 1.9% decrease from the 11,300 crashes recorded in January 2022. Despite the slight decline in overall collisions, the number of reported injuries rose by 12.9% year-over-year, from 2,795 to 3,155. Concurrently, total fatalities saw a significant 25% reduction, falling from 28 to 21.
11,081
▼ -1.9%was 11,300
Total Crash Events
21
▼ -25.0%was 28
Persons Killed
3,155
▲ 12.9%was 2,795
Persons Injured
847
▲ 5.9%was 800
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (21) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (21) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 653 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash volume showed a slight decrease of 1.9% in January 2023 compared to the same month in the prior year. While total crashes and fatalities (down 25%) declined, the number of injuries increased by 12.9%. This suggests a potential shift in crash outcomes, with fewer fatal events but more non-fatal injuries being reported.
847
Hit-and-Run Crashes — January 2023
▲ 5.9% vs prior (800)
The number of hit-and-run crashes increased from 800 in January 2022 to 847 in January 2023, a 5.9% rise. The hit-and-run rate, which represents the percentage of total crashes that were hit-and-runs, also trended upward. This rate grew from 7.1% in the prior period to 7.6% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
4
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
16
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
179
Pedestrians Injured
30
Cyclists Injured
2,935
Motorists Injured
11
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes showed some shifts between January 2022 and January 2023. While Monday remained the peak day for crashes in both periods, the number of crashes on Monday increased from 1,891 to 2,242. The peak hour for crashes shifted significantly from the morning commute (8 AM in 2022) to the evening commute (5 PM in 2023), which recorded 957 crashes.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.25% in January 2022 to 0.19% in January 2023, with 21 fatal crashes compared to 28 in the prior year. However, the proportion of crashes resulting in non-fatal injuries increased. The share of crashes involving serious, minor, or possible injuries grew from 18.8% to 21.3% year-over-year, driven primarily by an increase in minor injury crashes, which rose from 10.7% to 12.5% of all collisions.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top contributing factors remained consistent in ranking, but their counts shifted year-over-year. Crashes attributed to 'Failed to yield right of way' increased by 222, from 925 to 1,147, a 24.0% rise in count. Similarly, crashes involving 'Followed too closely' grew by 166 (from 713 to 879), a 23.3% increase in count. In contrast, crashes where 'No improper driving' was cited decreased in count by 10.5%, from 3,137 to 2,809.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a notable shift in road surface conditions for crashes in January 2023 compared to the prior year. The proportion of crashes on wet roads more than doubled, rising from 14.2% to 34.1% of all incidents. Conversely, crashes on dry and icy surfaces saw their shares decrease, from 59.0% to 48.9% and 9.5% to 3.1%, respectively. Crashes in darkness on lighted roadways also increased as a share of the total, from 27.0% to 31.8%.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top vehicle makes involved in crashes remained stable, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford consistently being the three most frequent in both January 2022 and January 2023. Analysis of persons involved in crashes shows a slight shift in age demographics. The proportion of individuals aged 65 and older increased from 8.4% to 9.6% of the total persons involved. Similarly, the 16-20 age group saw its representation grow from 9.8% to 10.3% year-over-year.
Top Vehicle Makes (19,880 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Vehicle unit records
2,588 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (21,693 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes in 25 mph zones increased from 1,971 to 2,129, while those in 30 mph zones decreased from 3,257 to 3,135. A significant change occurred in fatal crash locations; in January 2023, five fatalities were recorded in 25 mph zones, whereas none were recorded in these zones in January 2022. Conversely, fatalities in 30 mph and 65 mph zones decreased from 7 to 4 and 4 to 2, respectively.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 5 of 2,129 (0.235%) · 30 mph: 4 of 3,135 (0.128%) · 35 mph: 2 of 1,507 (0.133%) · 40 mph: 2 of 782 (0.256%) · 45 mph: 1 of 368 (0.272%) · 50 mph: 1 of 237 (0.422%) · 55 mph: 1 of 536 (0.187%) · 60 mph: 1 of 67 (1.493%) · 65 mph: 2 of 729 (0.274%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · 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: 2023-01-01 through 2023-01-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-01-01 through 2023-01-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: massachusetts, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 11,081
- Total persons involved: 24,500
- Total vehicles involved: 19,880
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: January 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/statewide/january-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-01-01 – 2023-01-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved