Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis

18 CRASHES IN
SWAMPSCOTT, MA
MAY 2023

All metrics benchmarked againstMay 2022

In May 2023, Swampscott experienced 18 total crashes, a notable increase of 63.6% compared to the 11 crashes recorded in May 2022. Total injuries rose significantly from 0 in May 2022 to 3 in May 2023, indicating a concerning shift in crash outcomes. This period also saw a substantial increase in DUI-related crashes, rising from 0 to 2 year-over-year.

18

63.6%was 11

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

3

Persons Injured

3

200.0%was 1

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 · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Overall, crash activity in Swampscott showed an upward trend year-over-year, with total crashes increasing by 63.6% from 11 in May 2022 to 18 in May 2023. While no fatalities were reported in either period, total injuries rose from 0 to 3, indicating a worsening severity of incidents. The number of DUI-related crashes also increased from 0 to 2 during this period.

3

Hit-and-Run Crashes — May 2023

200.0% vs prior (1)

Hit-and-run crashes increased by 200%, rising from 1 crash in May 2022 to 3 crashes in May 2023. Concurrently, the hit-and-run rate increased from 9.1% of total crashes in May 2022 to 16.7% in May 2023, indicating an upward trend in these types of incidents.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

3

Motorists Injured

Prior: 0%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal distribution of crashes shifted significantly, with the peak day moving from Saturday in May 2022 (5 crashes) to Monday in May 2023 (5 crashes). The peak hour also changed from 2 PM with 2 crashes in May 2022 to 1 PM with 4 crashes in May 2023. Crashes on Monday saw a substantial increase from 1 to 5 year-over-year, while Saturday crashes decreased from 5 to 3.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Minor Injury1minor injury crashes5.6%
Possible Injury2possible injury crashes11.1%
No Injury15no injury crashes83.3%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The contributing factor 'No improper driving' remained stable at 4 crashes in both periods, but its share of total crashes decreased from 36.4% to 22.2% due to the overall increase in incidents. Crashes attributed to 'Inattention' increased by 200%, rising from 1 in May 2022 to 3 in May 2023. Additionally, new factors like 'Made an improper turn' and 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' each contributed to 2 crashes in May 2023, not being present in the prior period's top factors.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving4 (22.2%)
Inattention3 (16.7%)
Made an improper turn2 (11.1%)
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner2 (11.1%)
Distracted1 (5.6%)
Over-correcting/over-steering1 (5.6%)
Followed too closely1 (5.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions increased from 9 in May 2022 to 16 in May 2023, with no crashes reported in cloudy or rainy conditions in the current period. Crashes during daylight hours also rose from 9 to 14 year-over-year, while crashes in dark-lighted roadway conditions increased slightly from 2 to 3. The current period also recorded 1 crash during dusk, which was not present in the prior period's lighting conditions.

Weather

Clear16 (88.9%)
77.8%prior 9
Clear/Clear2 (11.1%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight14 (77.8%)
55.6%prior 9
Dark - lighted roadway3 (16.7%)
Dusk1 (5.6%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Lighting condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

Top Vehicle Makes (31 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA8 (25.8%)
60.0%prior 5
2
HONDA4 (12.9%)
-20.0%prior 5
3
FORD3 (9.7%)
4
CHEVROLET2 (6.5%)
5
BMW2 (6.5%)
6
KIA1 (3.2%)
7
LEXUS1 (3.2%)
8
MAZDA1 (3.2%)
9
MITS1 (3.2%)
10
NISSAN1 (3.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (31 persons with recorded sex)

Male16 (51.6%)
60.0%prior 10
Female15 (48.4%)
-16.7%prior 18

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in the 25 mph speed zone increased from 4 in May 2022 to 9 in May 2023. Similarly, crashes in the 30 mph speed zone rose from 6 to 8 year-over-year. There was a shift in the lowest reported speed zone crash, from 1 crash at 5 mph in May 2022 to 1 crash at 10 mph in May 2023, with no fatal crashes reported in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · 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: 2023-05-01 through 2023-05-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2023-05-01 through 2023-05-31 (31 days)
  • Geographic scope: SWAMPSCOTT, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 18
  • Total persons involved: 35
  • Total vehicles involved: 31

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). "SWAMPSCOTT, MA Crash Intelligence Report: May 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/swampscott/may-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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Swampscott, MA Crash Report — May 2023 | ThatCarHitMe.com