ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MASSACHUSETTS, MA · MARCH 2024
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/march-2024-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
10,292 CRASHES IN
MASSACHUSETTS, MA
MARCH 2024
In March 2024, there were 10,292 total crashes, a 2.8% decrease from the 10,586 crashes recorded in March 2023. The most significant year-over-year change was a 39.3% reduction in total fatalities, which fell from 28 to 17. Total injuries also saw a slight decrease of 2.5%, from 3,164 to 3,085.
10,292
▼ -2.8%was 10,586
Total Crash Events
17
▼ -39.3%was 28
Persons Killed
3,085
▼ -2.5%was 3,164
Persons Injured
1,003
▲ 5.5%was 951
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (17) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (17) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 525 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Crash data for March 2024 indicates a downward trend compared to the same month in the previous year. Total crashes decreased by 2.8%, from 10,586 to 10,292. This trend was more pronounced for the most severe outcomes, with total fatalities dropping by 39.3% and total injuries declining by 2.5%.
1,003
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2024
▲ 5.5% vs prior (951)
Hit-and-run incidents increased in both count and as a proportion of total crashes from March 2023 to March 2024. The total number of hit-and-run crashes rose by 5.5%, from 951 to 1,003. This resulted in the hit-and-run rate climbing from 9.0% to 9.7% of all crashes, indicating an upward trend for this type of incident.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
5
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
12
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
140
Pedestrians Injured
45
Cyclists Injured
2,877
Motorists Injured
23
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The timing of crashes showed some shifts between March 2023 and March 2024. The peak hour for collisions remained consistent at 3 p.m. in both periods, with 836 crashes in the current period compared to 848 in the prior. However, the peak day for crashes moved from Wednesday (1,752 crashes) in 2023 to Friday (1,773 crashes) in 2024.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity improved year-over-year, with the number of fatal crashes decreasing from 26 to 17, and the corresponding fatal crash rate falling from 0.25% to 0.17% of all crashes. The proportion of crashes resulting in an injury remained relatively stable, accounting for 22.4% of all crashes in March 2024 compared to 21.8% in March 2023. Within injury crashes, the share of 'Serious Injury' incidents increased slightly from 1.5% to 1.6% of total crashes.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors to crashes remained consistent year-over-year, with 'Inattention' and 'Failed to yield right of way' ranking as the top driver-related causes in both periods. However, the number of crashes attributed to 'Followed too closely' increased by 21.3%, from 815 to 989 incidents. Conversely, crashes where 'Driving too fast for conditions' was a factor saw a 17.0% decrease in count, falling from 388 to 322.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Driving conditions in March 2024 were notably different from the previous year, primarily due to weather. The number of crashes occurring on wet road surfaces increased from 1,555 to 2,640, representing a shift from 14.7% to 25.6% of all crashes. This corresponds with a higher incidence of crashes in the rain. The proportion of crashes occurring in daylight versus darkness remained stable, with daylight crashes accounting for 67.9% of the total in 2024 compared to 69.1% in 2023.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The composition of vehicles involved in crashes showed high consistency year-over-year. Toyota, Honda, and Ford remained the top three most frequently involved vehicle makes in both March 2023 and March 2024, with very similar incident counts. Similarly, the age distribution of persons involved in crashes was nearly identical between the two periods; for example, the 26-34 age group represented 17.0% of all persons in 2024, compared to 16.7% in 2023.
Top Vehicle Makes (19,021 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
2,357 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (20,877 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The distribution of crashes across speed zones saw some changes, with a notable decrease in incidents within 30 mph zones (from 2,985 to 2,637). Crashes in 25 mph zones increased from 2,068 to 2,167. A significant reduction in fatalities was observed in several lower-to-mid-speed zones; for example, fatalities in 30 mph and 35 mph zones combined dropped from 8 in March 2023 to 3 in March 2024. Crashes in 65 mph zones increased from 635 to 678, though fatalities in this zone decreased from 5 to 1.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 4 of 2,167 (0.185%) · 30 mph: 1 of 2,637 (0.038%) · 35 mph: 2 of 1,297 (0.154%) · 40 mph: 2 of 712 (0.281%) · 45 mph: 2 of 372 (0.538%) · 50 mph: 2 of 200 (1%) · 60 mph: 1 of 42 (2.381%) · 65 mph: 1 of 678 (0.147%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · 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: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2024-03-01 through 2024-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: massachusetts, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 10,292
- Total persons involved: 23,571
- Total vehicles involved: 19,021
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: March 2024." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/statewide/march-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
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2024-03-01 – 2024-03-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved