Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

37 CRASHES IN
STURBRIDGE, MA
JULY 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstJuly 2022

Total crashes in July 2023 remained stable at 37, matching the 37 crashes recorded in July 2022. Despite the stable overall crash count, total injuries decreased by 41.7%, from 24 in the prior year to 14 in the current year. Hit-and-run crashes saw a significant increase, rising by 150% from 2 to 5 incidents.

37

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

14

-41.7%was 24

Persons Injured

5

150.0%was 2

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.

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

The overall number of crashes in STURBRIDGE remained stable year-over-year, with 37 crashes reported in both July 2023 and July 2022. However, the total number of injuries decreased significantly by 41.7%, from 24 injuries in July 2022 to 14 injuries in July 2023. This indicates a decrease in injury severity despite a stable crash count.

5

Hit-and-Run Crashes — July 2023

150.0% vs prior (2)

Hit-and-run crashes significantly increased year-over-year, rising from 2 incidents in July 2022 to 5 incidents in July 2023, marking a 150% increase. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate more than doubled, increasing from 5.4% of all crashes in July 2022 to 13.5% in July 2023. This indicates an upward trend in hit-and-run incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

14

Motorists Injured

Prior: 24-41.7%

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 patterns for crashes shifted between the two periods. In July 2023, the peak day for crashes was Friday with 9 incidents, and the peak hour was 9 AM with 5 crashes. This contrasts with July 2022, where the peak day was Saturday with 10 crashes, and the peak hour was 2 PM with 5 crashes.

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

Fatalities remained at zero in both July 2023 and July 2022. While serious injuries remained stable at 1 in both periods, minor injuries decreased from 9 in July 2022 to 5 in July 2023, representing a 44.4% reduction. Conversely, possible injuries increased from 2 in July 2022 to 4 in July 2023, a 100% increase.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury1serious injury crashes2.7%
0.0%prior 1
Minor Injury5minor injury crashes13.5%
-44.4%prior 9
Possible Injury4possible injury crashes10.8%
100.0%prior 2
No Injury27no injury crashes73%
8.0%prior 25

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 most frequently cited contributing factor shifted from "Followed too closely" in July 2022 (9 crashes) to "No improper driving" in July 2023 (16 crashes), representing a 300% increase in count for "No improper driving." "Followed too closely" decreased by 33.3% in count, from 9 crashes in the prior period to 6 in the current period. "Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road" increased by 300% in count, from 1 crash in July 2022 to 4 crashes in July 2023.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving16 (43.2%)
Followed too closely6 (16.2%)-33.3%prior 9
Inattention5 (13.5%)0.0%prior 5
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (10.8%)
Over-correcting/over-steering2 (5.4%)
Failed to yield right of way2 (5.4%)
Fatigued/asleep1 (2.7%)
Exceeded authorized speed limit1 (2.7%)

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

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 34 in July 2022 to 27 in July 2023, while crashes in rainy conditions increased from 2 to 5. The number of crashes on wet road surfaces doubled from 3 in July 2022 to 6 in July 2023. Daylight crashes remained relatively stable, with 31 in July 2022 and 30 in July 2023.

Weather

Clear27 (75.0%)
-20.6%prior 34
Rain5 (13.9%)
Cloudy4 (11.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight30 (81.1%)
-3.2%prior 31
Dark - roadway not lighted3 (8.1%)
Dark - lighted roadway2 (5.4%)
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (2.7%)
Dawn1 (2.7%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry31 (83.8%)
-8.8%prior 34
Wet6 (16.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The total number of vehicles involved in crashes decreased from 82 in July 2022 to 68 in July 2023. Toyota remained the top make involved, increasing from 11 vehicles in July 2022 to 14 in July 2023. The age group 0-15 saw an increase in persons involved from 7 to 10, while the 45-54 and 65+ age groups saw decreases from 16 to 7 and 15 to 8 respectively.

Top Vehicle Makes (68 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA14 (20.6%)
27.3%prior 11
2
FORD7 (10.3%)
-12.5%prior 8
3
SUBARU5 (7.4%)
4
HONDA4 (5.9%)
-60.0%prior 10
5
CHEVROLET4 (5.9%)
6
HYUNDAI3 (4.4%)
7
NISSAN3 (4.4%)
8
FREIGHTLINER3 (4.4%)
9
ACURA2 (2.9%)
10
DODGE2 (2.9%)
-60.0%prior 5

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (88 persons with recorded sex)

Male45 (51.1%)
-25.0%prior 60
Female43 (48.9%)
2.4%prior 42

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

Crashes in the 65 MPH speed limit zone slightly decreased from 17 in July 2022 to 16 in July 2023. Crashes in the 35 MPH zone decreased from 7 to 4, while those in the 40 MPH zone increased from 2 to 6. No fatalities were recorded in any speed zone during either period.

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: STURBRIDGE, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 37
  • Total persons involved: 97
  • Total vehicles involved: 68

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). "STURBRIDGE, 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/sturbridge/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

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Sturbridge, MA Crash Report — July 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com