ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MASSACHUSETTS, MA · JULY 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/july-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
11,338 CRASHES IN
MASSACHUSETTS, MA
JULY 2023
In July 2023, there were 11,338 total traffic crashes, compared to 10,850 in July 2022, representing a 4.5% year-over-year increase. While total fatalities decreased, the number of crashes and injuries both rose. The single most notable year-over-year shift was a 58.9% increase in crashes involving speeding, which grew from 304 to 483 incidents.
11,338
▲ 4.5%was 10,850
Total Crash Events
33
▼ -15.4%was 39
Persons Killed
3,927
▲ 4.7%was 3,752
Persons Injured
1,082
▲ 18.5%was 913
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (33) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (31) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 703 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall traffic crash trends show an increase in volume compared to the same period last year. Total crashes rose by 4.5% from 10,850 to 11,338. Similarly, the number of people injured increased by 4.7% from 3,752 to 3,927, while the number of fatalities saw a decrease from 39 to 33.
1,082
Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2023
▲ 18.5% vs prior (913)
Hit-and-run crashes increased in both absolute count and as a percentage of total crashes. The number of hit-and-run incidents rose by 18.5%, from 913 in July 2022 to 1,082 in July 2023. This pushed the hit-and-run rate up from 8.4% to 9.5% of all crashes, indicating an upward trend for this crash type.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
4
Pedestrians Killed
1
Cyclists Killed
28
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
106
Pedestrians Injured
132
Cyclists Injured
3,669
Motorists Injured
20
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal pattern of crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Friday (2,042 incidents) in July 2022 to Monday (1,876 incidents) in July 2023. The peak hour for collisions remained the 4 PM hour in both periods, with the volume of crashes during that hour increasing from 894 to 945.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While total crashes increased, the severity profile showed a decrease in fatal incidents. The number of fatal crashes fell from 36 to 31 year-over-year, and the corresponding fatal crash rate declined from 0.33% to 0.27%. The proportion of crashes resulting in minor injuries increased from 14.8% to 16.2%, while the share of crashes involving serious injuries decreased slightly from 2.5% to 2.3%.
Severity is per crash event (most severe injury). 31 fatal crash events resulted in 33 persons killed.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The top three contributing factors cited in crash reports remained the same year-over-year: 'No improper driving,' 'Inattention,' and 'Failed to yield right of way.' However, there was a significant change in the count of speed-related factors; crashes attributed to 'Driving too fast for conditions' increased by 129.8% in count, from 114 incidents in July 2022 to 262 in July 2023. In contrast, the count of crashes involving 'Inattention' decreased slightly by 1.5% from 1,632 to 1,608.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
A notable shift occurred in the environmental conditions under which crashes happened. The proportion of collisions on wet road surfaces increased significantly, from 4.6% of all crashes in July 2022 to 14.3% in July 2023. This corresponds with a rise in crashes occurring during rain, which accounted for a larger share of incidents in the current period compared to the prior year. The distribution of crashes by lighting condition remained relatively stable.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The vehicle makes most frequently involved in crashes were consistent across both periods, with Toyota, Honda, and Ford ranking as the top three in both July 2022 and July 2023. The age distribution of persons involved in crashes also showed little change, with all age brackets maintaining a similar proportional representation year-over-year. For instance, the 26-34 age group accounted for 16.3% of individuals in July 2023, compared to 15.9% in the prior year.
Top Vehicle Makes (21,019 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Vehicle unit records
2,993 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (23,238 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The distribution of crashes across posted speed zones was broadly similar year-over-year, with a slight proportional decrease in crashes occurring in zones of 30 mph or less (55.1% in July 2023 vs. 59.1% in July 2022). Crashes in zones of 55 mph or higher made up 12.5% of the total in the current period, a marginal increase from 12.3% previously. In high-volume zones like 65 mph, the fatal crash rate per incident decreased from 0.749% to 0.51%.
Fatal crashes by zone: 20 mph: 1 of 293 (0.341%) · 25 mph: 5 of 2,240 (0.223%) · 30 mph: 6 of 3,024 (0.198%) · 35 mph: 4 of 1,479 (0.27%) · 40 mph: 3 of 815 (0.368%) · 45 mph: 2 of 426 (0.469%) · 50 mph: 2 of 278 (0.719%) · 55 mph: 3 of 536 (0.56%) · 65 mph: 4 of 784 (0.51%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · 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: 2023-07-01 through 2023-07-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-07-01 through 2023-07-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: massachusetts, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 11,338
- Total persons involved: 26,766
- Total vehicles involved: 21,019
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: July 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/statewide/july-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: 2023-07-01 – 2023-07-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved