Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

2,163 CRASHES IN
TAUNTON, MA
2022

All metrics benchmarked against2021

In 2022, Taunton recorded 2,163 total crashes, a 24.4% increase from the 1,739 crashes reported in 2021. While total fatalities decreased from 4 to 3, the number of reported hit-and-run incidents saw a substantial year-over-year increase, rising from 36 to 164.

2,163

24.4%was 1,739

Total Crash Events

3

-25.0%was 4

Persons Killed

578

24.6%was 464

Persons Injured

164

355.6%was 36

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 141 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash trends in Taunton show a significant year-over-year increase. Total crashes rose by 24.4%, from 1,739 in 2021 to 2,163 in 2022. Similarly, the number of people injured in these incidents increased by 24.6% from 464 to 578, while fatalities saw a slight decrease from 4 to 3.

164

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022

355.6% vs prior (36)

The number of hit-and-run crashes increased dramatically year-over-year, rising from 36 incidents in 2021 to 164 in 2022. This represents a 355.6% increase in the count of such events. Consequently, the hit-and-run rate, or the percentage of all crashes that were hit-and-runs, surged from 2.1% in 2021 to 7.6% in 2022, indicating a strong upward trend.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

1

Pedestrians Killed

Prior: 10.0%

0

Cyclists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

2

Motorists Killed

Prior: 3-33.3%

9

Pedestrians Injured

Prior: 12-25.0%

8

Cyclists Injured

Prior: 633.3%

561

Motorists Injured

Prior: 44226.9%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

The temporal patterns of crashes remained broadly consistent year-over-year, though with increased volume. Friday was the peak day for crashes in both 2021 (280 crashes) and 2022 (367 crashes). The peak hour for collisions shifted slightly earlier, from the 5 PM hour in 2021 (153 crashes) to the 4 PM hour in 2022 (197 crashes).

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

The overall severity of crashes showed mixed changes between 2021 and 2022. The fatal crash rate decreased from 0.23% to 0.14%, with one fewer fatal crash recorded in 2022 (3) than in 2021 (4). Crashes resulting in serious injuries remained proportionally stable at 1.3% of all incidents in both years, though the count increased from 22 to 29. The share of crashes involving minor injuries increased slightly from 12.3% to 12.7%, while the proportion of no-injury crashes remained steady at approximately 75% of all incidents.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Fatal3fatal crashes0.1%
-25.0%prior 4
Serious Injury29serious injury crashes1.3%
31.8%prior 22
Minor Injury274minor injury crashes12.7%
28.0%prior 214
Possible Injury100possible injury crashes4.6%
-8.3%prior 109
No Injury1,616no injury crashes74.7%
23.8%prior 1,305

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factors for crashes remained consistent between 2021 and 2022, with 'Inattention' and 'Failed to yield right of way' being the top two improper driving actions in both periods. The number of crashes attributed to inattention increased by 23.7%, from 287 to 355. Incidents involving failure to yield the right of way grew by 31.0% (from 229 to 300), and crashes due to following too closely rose by 59.8% (from 117 to 187). The share of crashes attributed to these top factors remained relatively stable year-over-year.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving480 (22.2%)11.6%prior 430
Inattention355 (16.4%)23.7%prior 287
Failed to yield right of way300 (13.9%)31.0%prior 229
Followed too closely187 (8.6%)59.8%prior 117
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road99 (4.6%)35.6%prior 73
Other improper action63 (2.9%)12.5%prior 56
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner54 (2.5%)-8.5%prior 59
Distracted49 (2.3%)22.5%prior 40
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings44 (2%)2.3%prior 43
Driving too fast for conditions30 (1.4%)3.4%prior 29

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in clear weather and on dry roads. In 2022, 80.8% of crashes happened on dry road surfaces, a slight decrease from 82.0% in 2021. Crashes during daylight hours accounted for 67.8% of the total in 2022, compared to 65.7% in the prior year. The proportion of crashes occurring under adverse conditions like rain or on wet roads remained relatively unchanged between the two periods.

Weather

Clear1,174 (56.5%)
-13.0%prior 1,350
Clear/Clear423 (20.4%)
Cloudy121 (5.8%)
27.4%prior 95
Rain117 (5.6%)
-11.4%prior 132
Snow49 (2.4%)
-10.9%prior 55
Rain/Rain45 (2.2%)
Cloudy/Rain20 (1.0%)
-16.7%prior 24
Cloudy/Cloudy17 (0.8%)
Clear/Cloudy17 (0.8%)
Rain/Cloudy17 (0.8%)
0.0%prior 17

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight1,467 (68.4%)
28.3%prior 1,143
Dark - lighted roadway466 (21.7%)
11.8%prior 417
Dark - roadway not lighted72 (3.4%)
26.3%prior 57
Dusk65 (3.0%)
8.3%prior 60
Dawn54 (2.5%)
74.2%prior 31
Dark - unknown roadway lighting16 (0.7%)
60.0%prior 10
Other4 (0.2%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry1,747 (81.5%)
22.5%prior 1,426
Wet280 (13.1%)
17.6%prior 238
Snow69 (3.2%)
32.7%prior 52
Ice39 (1.8%)
254.5%prior 11
Slush6 (0.3%)
Other1 (0.0%)
Water (standing, moving)1 (0.0%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

The top five vehicle makes involved in crashes remained the same in 2022 as in 2021, led by Toyota, Ford, and Honda, with all seeing an increase in total counts. Honda moved from the fourth to the third most common make, surpassing Chevrolet. An analysis of persons involved in crashes shows that the 26-34 age group was the largest demographic in both years, increasing from 675 individuals in 2021 to 916 in 2022. The 35-44 age group saw a notable 35.6% increase in involvement, rising from 558 to 757 persons.

Top Vehicle Makes (3,896 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA612 (15.7%)
14.4%prior 535
2
FORD430 (11%)
23.9%prior 347
3
HONDA412 (10.6%)
37.8%prior 299
4
CHEVROLET379 (9.7%)
22.7%prior 309
5
NISSAN325 (8.3%)
23.6%prior 263
6
HYUNDAI215 (5.5%)
40.5%prior 153
7
JEEP165 (4.2%)
5.8%prior 156
8
DODGE126 (3.2%)
23.5%prior 102
9
GMC113 (2.9%)
16.5%prior 97
10
KIA96 (2.5%)
35.2%prior 71

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

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

Sex Distribution (4,251 persons with recorded sex)

Male2,363 (55.6%)
31.2%prior 1,801
Female1,888 (44.4%)
25.9%prior 1,500

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

Crashes in 30 mph zones remained the most frequent, increasing from 724 incidents in 2021 to 863 in 2022. There was also a notable 35% increase in crashes within 65 mph zones, which rose from 117 to 158. The location of fatal crashes shifted to higher speed zones; in 2021, three of the four fatalities occurred in 20-25 mph zones, whereas in 2022, all three fatalities occurred in 30-35 mph zones.

Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 863 (0.116%) · 35 mph: 2 of 278 (0.719%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · 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: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: TAUNTON, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 2,163
  • Total persons involved: 4,705
  • Total vehicles involved: 3,896

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). "TAUNTON, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/taunton/2022-annual-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

Taunton, MA Crash Report — 2022 | ThatCarHitMe.com